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WARREN - A settlement was reached this week between the Trumbull County commissioners and a clerk who alleged harassment and retaliation in a lawsuit now dismissed from federal court in Youngstown.
The suit was filed in June 2022 by Paula Vivoda-Klotz, who has worked in the commissioners' office since 2004.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed but the parties will have until Sept. 8 to submit a proposed order to the judge for final approval.
Vivoda-Klotz alleged being harassed and retaliated against before and after taking a leave of absence in November 2020 to tend to health complications.
Upon her return, Vivoda-Klotz said she complained to the commissioners' human resources director that a demotion and loss of an office she'd been given because of a previous promotion were in retaliation for her leave of absence.
Vivoda-Klotz also said she had her hours reduced when she returned.
In January 2021, Vivoda-Klotz alleged that Commissioner Niki Frenchko wanted to fire her.
The federal court document states Vivoda-Klotz made claims that other staffers attempted to isolate her by ordering her to not communicate with Frenchko, even for work-related purposes.
It also was alleged in the suit that other staff members were told not to help Vivoda-Klotz and that they were to count and report typographical errors in Vivoda-Klotz's written work product to further build a case for termination.
Allegations in the lawsuit also state Vivoda-Klotz's hours were reduced by Frenchko, who at that point had been on the job for less than two weeks in mid-January 2021.
The commissioners, in court documents, denied all the allegations made -- but did admit to at least one allegation by Vivoda-Klotz indicating that, prior to her leave of absence, she had several boxes of unfiled documents that piled up for "many months, if not years."
But allegations of a reduction in Vivoda-Klotz's salary and a demotion were denied by commissioners, as were Vivoda-Klotz's retaliation claims.
The commissioners also stated that Vivoda-Klotz's condition did not qualify as being disabled by state or federal definitions.
Just last month, Trumbull County commissioners reached a $225,000 settlement with office employee Dawn Guarino Gedeon, who in a 2022 lawsuit claimed Frenchko expressed "anti-Italian prejudice and bigotry" toward her and "others of Italian descent."
The agreement in U.S. District Court, which was signed June 9 by Gedeon, states she releases and discharges Frenchko and the board from further liability regarding the claims.
"Allegations were made in a lawsuit filed by Dawn Gedeon that the workplace did not always meet the high standards that Trumbull County has maintained for many years. These allegations were taken seriously by the Trumbull County commissioners and its risk pool. After much reflection on the time and costs that go into handling litigation matters, the risk pool chose to resolve the case via settlement," the commissioners office stated in a news release at the time.