A federal grand jury says the city of Anderson needs to pay nearly $750,000 to several former city employees after they were fired in 2012 by the former mayor’s administration. The issue in the case is freedom of speech.
Republican Kevin Smith was mayor of Anderson in 2012 when his administration fired 11 city employees. A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has ruled those firings were politically-motivated.
The jury found Smith’s administration fired the employees for supporting his 2011 election rival, then-incumbent Democratic Mayor Kris Ockomon, and therefore violated their freedom of speech.
In hearings, an attorney for the city argued that the employees were fired for either poor job performance or because they were in policy-making positions that could turn over with the start of a new mayor’s term. The court ruled that the rights of all eleven employees were violated, but only eight will share in damages of $740,000.
Smith was not re-elected in last November’s election. The City of Anderson has not responded to requests for comment.