Posted at 2:11 p.m., Friday, January 25, 2008
Jury awards $3 million to former city official
Advertiser Staff
A Circuit Court jury has awarded $3 million in damages to a former city official who claimed she lost her job with the city in 2004 because she reported wrongdoing in the administration of then-Mayor Jeremy Harris.Plaintiff Nancy Olipares wept quietly when the jury announced its verdict this afternoon.
Olipares was the director of the Oahu Workforce Investment Board from 2000-mid-2003.
Her employment contract was not renewed by Michael Amii, the director of the city Department of Community Services, after she clashed with Amii over questions about how the city was spending, and not spending, OWIB money.
OWIB is a federally-funded city agency that provides job training and employment services in cooperation with private industry.
City attorney Marie Gavigan said she was "disappointed" by the verdict, adding that the city would "weigh its options" about appealing the verdict.
