9/4/2011
After more than a decade of bickering, the City of Cambridge yesterday has announced that it would end its legal appeals in a case about race discrimination involving former city worker Malvina Monteiro.
Robert Healy, the City Manager and in-charge of overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the government, came out from a short closed-door session yesterday with the City Council, declaring that he is ready to move on.
In a statement released to the press, Healy said, “I have decided not to pursue an appeal to the state Supreme Judicial Court in this 13-year-old case. It is now time for the city to move forward and bring closure to this matter.”
Monteiro was relieved by the decision of the city to forego the appeal. She filed a lawsuit against the city way back in 2003, claiming that Healy, along with his staff, embarked on a campaign to punish her after she filed a complaint in 1998 against them with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
During a brief telephone interview with Monteiro, she said, “I only wanted to do my job with dignity and to be treated as an equal.”
She was hired in 1990, serving as the chief of the city’s Police Review and Advisory Committee.
In 1998, Monteiro and four other women of color who also held cit management jobs filed a complaint claiming race discrimination, alleging that they were not accorded the same treatment as their white colleagues and were never given similar opportunities. She resigned in 2003 after the city officials notified her of their intention to terminate her services.
Monteiro alleged that Healy along with other city officials went on a campaign to get even with her for filing a discrimination case against them.
