St. Paul Public Schools has agreed to pay $6,000 to settle a fired employee’s lawsuit alleging discrimination and retaliation for an undisclosed health problem.
Social worker Thaddeus Mosqueda sued the district in December in Ramsey County District Court.
He claimed Wellstone Elementary Principal Angelica Van Iperen fired him last year because he did not disclose when he was hired in August 2016 that he uses a pacemaker for a heart condition.
He alleged Van Iperen had berated him and asked co-workers for help justifying his dismissal before placing him on administrative leave and later firing him.
The termination letter cited Mosqueda’s “inability to respond to students needing to solve social problems, failure to show up on time for scheduled work meetings and failure to follow protocol to provide notice of your absences/tardiness … (and) multiple incidences of insubordination.”
Mosqueda will get $4,000 and his lawyer the other $2,000, according to a settlement agreement released in response to a Pioneer Press records request.
His salary was $66,934 for working four days a week.
The school board approved the settlement in July.
As part of the deal, Mosqueda can never again work for St. Paul Public Schools.
The district did not admit to doing anything wrong.