Bridgeport pays former labor official $75,000 settlement

BRIDGEPORT — The city has agreed to pay $75,000 to a former personnel official under Mayor Bill Finch who was terminated by Mayor Joe Ganim.

From July 2012 until July 2016, Thomas Austin was Bridgeport’s senior labor relations officer and played key roles in union contract negotiations and other personnel matters.

Austin was hired under Finch, who lost the 2015 Democratic primary to Ganim, who then won that year’s general election.

After Ganim let Austin go, the latter filed a lawsuit

in U.S. District Court. Austin claimed that, unlike other Finchera staffers who left willingly or were terminated after Ganim got into office, he was a “classified” employee and could only be let go for “just cause” with the ability to appeal.

The city had initially maintained Austin held a political job and did not enjoy “classified” rights.

“He’s really a political appointee and he served at the pleasure of the mayor,” head City Attorney R. Christopher Meyer said in 2017 when Austin filed his federal lawsuit.

Austin had also accused City Hall of retaliation for his role in negotiating and authorizing raises for union and non-union supervisors, including himself, issued during Finch’s final days in office to the outgoing mayor and his key staff.

The Ganim administration had unsuccessfully sought to reverse those pay hikes in early 2016 but lost before state Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis that March. Bellis made a point of refuting the

City Attorney’s then-claim in court that Austin’s role in authorizing the salary increases had been influenced by personal gain.

Three months later, Austin was out of his job.

Bridgeport sought a summary judgment before U.S. District Judge Michael Shea once the case came to court but that was denied.

Shea last September ruled in Austin’s favor, and the City Council recently authorized the $75,000 payment to Austin, which included legal fees.

Austin was represented by Attorney Thomas Bucci, a former mayor who frequently represents current and former Bridgeport

“Mr. Austin was a very competent and very capable senior labor relations officer who was terminated without notice, reason and pursued a claim ... because there was no basis to support or to justify his termination.”

Thomas Bucci, attorney for Thomas Austin

municipal workers.

“Mr. Austin was a very competent and very capable senior labor relations officer who was terminated without notice, reason and pursued a claim ... because there was no basis to support or to justify his termination,” Bucci said Thursday.

Bucci said given his client had “obtained new employment ... his interest was not in returning to the position in Bridgeport ... So it became advantageous to talk financial aspects of the case and get it resolved and everybody could move forward.”

Ganim’s office and the city’s law department declined comment.