Alaska’s state Alaska offers a settlement of $750,000 in legal proceedings to the former chief of the state commission for human rights.
Marilyn Stewart sued the state in 2022 in 2022, claiming that she was removed from her position as chairman in the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights because of discrimination. The commission itself is charged with investigating claims of discrimination.
Stewart was Executive Director of the Commission in less than one month in July of 2019.
In the lawsuit, Stewart alleged that because she’s Black as well as a woman and a veteran of the military Two former commissioners persuaded others to let them vote on her termination.
In the settlement reached earlier this week, the State complied with a 2022 inquiry from the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that concluded that Stewart’s complaints were valid and offered $750,000 as a condition in exchange for Stewart abstaining from her lawsuit.
Stewart and an attorney for her didn’t immediately make any comment regarding the settlement.
In a statement, Alaska’s State Human Rights Commission stated there was no commissioner who supported the decision to dismiss Stewart are still as members of the board. They also stated that the commission has a strong commitment to its mission to “eliminate and stop discrimination against everyone Alaskans.”
The settlement is subject to the approval of lawmakers from the Alaska Legislature.
