A Missouri police officer accepted a $10.25 million settlement in his lawsuit with St. Louis County after he was passed up for 23 promotions and was told to “tone down” his “gayness.”
In October, a jury sided with then-Sgt. Keith Wildhaber and ordered St. Louis County to pay the officer nearly $20 million. The jury agreed that the county discriminated against Wildhaber when it refused to promote him 23 times while citing his “gayness” as part of the reason.
In addition to saying Wildhaber was “way too out there with his gayness,” the department also forced him to work in a precinct far from his home as a punitive measure when he filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after not being promoted due to his sexual preferences.
When the judge ruled in October that the county should pay Wildhaber $20 million, the two sides agreed to enter mediation to reconsider the final settlement. The city aimed to lower the total amount paid out, and Wildhaber wanted to renegotiate his share of the settlement.
After three months of mediation, the two sides agreed to $10.25 million for Wildhaber on Monday. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar also announced that he would retire on Monday, but the announcement was not part of the settlement.
The county agreed to pay Wildhaber $7 million within 60 days and the final $3.25 million by Jan. 31, 2021. He will net $6.5 million after paying his attorneys’ fees. It is not yet clear if the city’s insurance will cover the final payments to him.
“This lawsuit acknowledges what Lt. Wildhaber survived in the police department and lets us move forward as a county,” County Executive Sam Page told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I think it’s important to recognize that this sends a message to everyone in county government and to all of our employers in the St. Louis region that discrimination will not be tolerated.”
Page added, “This is an opportunity for our department to move forward and to continue to make the progress that has been made and to stay focused on my … goals for our police department, which is first to keep us safe and second to respect all people.”
In April 2019, Wildhaber offered to settle for $850,000 and a promotion, but the county refused the offer. He was eventually promoted to lieutenant in 2019 after the jury ruled in his favor for the $20 million settlement.
