Hamtramck settles in whistleblower lawsuit

HAMTRAMCK (AP) — Hamtramck has settled a whistleblower lawsuit with a former employee who alleged officials retaliated against him for reporting police misconduct and racial discrimination.

City officials in Hamtramck, a Detroit enclave, released a check for $75,000 last week after reaching a settlement with Steve Shaya, according to his attorney, Mark Michael Koroi. The settlement was approved in September, and the case was dismissed last Friday, The Detroit News reported.

Shaya filed the lawsuit against Hamtramck and police officials in February 2014, saying the city falsely accused him in a hit-and-run accident after he complained that an officer violated the city’s ethics laws by working as both an officer and a subcontractor fixing police vehicles.

The lawsuit alleged that police charged Shaya in December 2013 with leaving the scene of an accident. Shaya requested a copy of documents related to the alleged accident that day, but the charges were dismissed six days later.

Shaya, now a general manager for the Detroit Public Works Department, also alleged that city officials were harassing Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans in the area. He was later fired for what the city alleged is not paying his city income tax.

Koroi said he and Shaya were “reasonably satisfied” with the settlement.

“The amount of the settlement speaks for itself,” he said. “They spent a lot of money to get it dismissed.”

Mayor Karen Majewski declined to comment on the suit.

Shaya filed a separate wrongful discharge lawsuit against the city for his being fired. Koroi said the case is expected to go to trial.