File photo of Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A former city employee received a $195,000 settlement from the city of Columbus after claiming she was illegally required to work on the 2023 reelection campaign of Mayor Andrew Ginther.
The allegation of political work on the city’s dime appears in an unfiled federal court lawsuit prepared by a lawyer for Denise Bauer, who worked as an assistant to Ginther, a Democrat.
The lawsuit was provided to city lawyers as Bauer sought a legal settlement for not being paid overtime, including for “regularly fielding extensive inquiries and communications from Mayor Ginther’s campaign staff to perform work for the mayor’s campaign.
“Accordingly, she was required to work even more to complete her normal workload and the litany of requests from the campaign,” the draft lawsuit claimed.
The unfiled lawsuit says Bauer was forced to resign on Aug. 3, 2023 after raising concerns with unidentified supervisors about the political work for Ginther.