Former Fort Worth employees to get millions in settlement
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Joel Fitzgerald was chief for four years. Photo: Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The City of Fort Worth will pay a combined $9.6 million to three ex-employees, including a former police chief, to settle lawsuits alleging their firings were mishandled.
Why it matters: The former employees claimed in their suits that they were fired for exposing the city's cybersecurity issues.
- Though the city is agreeing to pay a settlement, officials haven't admitted liability.
Driving the news: The Fort Worth City Council approved the payouts this week to end the legal battle with former police chief Joel Fitzgerald, former assistant IT director Ronald Burke and former IT employee William Birchett.
- The settlement awards $5.2 million to Fitzgerald, $2.4 million to Birchett and $2 million to Burke.
Flashback: Fitzgerald was fired abruptly in 2019 after leading the department since 2015. A union leader told KERA at the time that Fitzgerald's achievements included technology improvements but many officers weren't sure he had their back.
Catch up quick: In 2018, the city underwent an audit to ensure it met the conditions for using an FBI database that houses mugshots and records.
- A Texas Department of Public Safety auditor found that the city wasn't fully compliant with point-to-point encryption rules, per court documents obtained by NBC5.
- Fitzgerald was told that the IT issues were identified several years prior and started working with Burke to get them resolved. They were still developing solutions when Burke and Birchett were fired in 2019, per the documents.
- Birchett sued, accusing the city of firing him for exposing their cybersecurity issues, per NBC5. Fitzgerald was fired shortly after and alleged in a separate lawsuit that the city tarnished his professional reputation and fired him for exposing their legal violations.
The latest: In April, a Dallas jury awarded more than $1 million in lost wages and benefits to Burke.
- Mediations started in July, and resulted in the million-dollar settlement for all three former employees.
The other side: The approved settlement includes a "full release of claims against the city," a Fort Worth spokesperson told NBC5 in a statement.
- "It is both exhausting and unnecessary to continue discussing an individual who has not been employed by the city for over five years … It is time to leave this where it belongs — in the past," Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said in a statement.