KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council will be asked Thursday to approve a $1.4 million settlement with a former city employee.
A jury awarded Ronald Williams, who worked as a maintenance electrician in the Water Supply Division for the KCMO Water Services Department from June 2011 to January 2017, the award after a trial that ended in February 2020.
Williams sued the city in July 2018 alleging discrimination, harassment, a hostile work environment and retaliation during his time with the city water department.
It includes allegations that he was denied the chance to take a training course offered to white coworkers, which could have led to a promotion, and was told by a supervisor that Black electricians were “incompetent.”
The jury awarded Williams $286,000 in compensatory damages and $504,000 in punitive damages plus interest accrued since the Final Judgment and Order was entered May 22, 2020.
Judge Sandra Midkiff also awarded nearly $480,000 in attorney’s fees, subject to a 1.5-times multiplier.
The city had sought a new trial, which it was denied, and filed an appeal in July 2020.
The Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals denied the city’s appeal in April 2022, affirming the jury’s judgment and remanding it back to Jackson County Circuit Court for consideration of lawyer’s fees, on a 7-4 vote.
The Missouri Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
“This settlement resolves this case at the last opportunity before the City will be require to pay the entire judgment,” a legislative fact sheet prepared by Assistant City Attorney Timothy Ertz and reviewed by City Attorney Matthew for the city council said.
