WILLMAR -- The Willmar City Council has authorized continued discussion of a possible settlement with a Willmar woman who claimed marital status discrimination when her application for a firefighter position was denied.
The council authorized Patricia Beety, an attorney with the League of Minnesota Cities, to continue discussing possible litigation with the attorney for Rebecca Stein, said City Administrator Michael Schmit.
The authorization was given during a closed council session that was held just before the council's regular meeting Monday night.
Beety said the meeting was closed under the attorney-client exception to the Open Meeting Law. She said no lawsuit has yet been filed in Kandiyohi County District Court.
Beety said she couldn't discuss the city's strategy. She did say the possible litigation involves a claim by Stein of marital status discrimination when Stein applied for a city firefighter position in 2006.
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Beety said Stein was married to a member of the Willmar Fire Department at the time of the application.
Beety said Stein claimed that the city discriminated against her because of her marital status.
Schmit said an old personnel policy was incorrectly used to deny the position to Stein.
Schmit said the old policy had prohibited spouses from being in the same department when one of them is in a supervisory role over the other.
Schmit said the policy was changed in July 2006. Stein's application for the position was dated Aug. 22, 2006, according to Fire Department records.
"When we discovered the mistake because the policy had been changed in July, then we told her she could apply,'' said Schmit.
However, he said she did not. Beety said that Stein filed the claim of marital discrimination with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on Feb. 2, 2007.
The department investigated, but the department closed the file, Beety said.
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Human Rights Department information officer Jeff Holman said Stein filed an allegation of discrimination based on marital status, which was amended to include age and gender discrimination.
Holman said the department found evidence to support a finding of probable cause on the basis of marital status, but found no probable case on the allegation of discrimination based on age and gender.
Holman said the case at the department has been withdrawn because Stein chose a "private route of action,'' which means Stein hired an attorney to pursue an action through the courts.
"Now it's basically up to Ms. Stein as to whether or not she'll be filing a lawsuit,'' Beety said.
"I don't know if this will end up going to court yet. I'm just not sure right now,'' Stein said.
She said city staff should have known what the personnel policies are. Her husband, Stephen, retired from the Fire Department this summer.
"They wronged me by not knowing their policies, and I don't want to see it happen to anybody else,'' she said.
Stein said she was offered the opportunity to reapply for the position, and said she submitted an application, but she said the city said the application was never received the second time.
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Beety said she was assigned to Willmar as defense attorney because the claim is covered by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust.
