Finkbeiner's ex-spokesman sues over loss of job

10/6/2009

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner's former spokesman filed a lawsuit against the city in Lucas County Common Pleas Court Tuesday, claiming that he was illegally forced to resign from his job because he did not live within the city limits.

Brian Schwartz asked for $150,000 in back pay, money he said he would have made had he not been forced to resign. He also requested that the court find that he was "constructively terminated" as a result of being informed he would be fired if he did not move and that termination violated state law.

In July, the Ohio Supreme decided separate cases filed by Toledo, Cleveland, and Dayton that challenged a 2006 state law forbidding residency requirements as a condition of employment. The court disagreed with the cities' argument that the state law violated their constitutional right of home rule.

Since then, several city employees who had been terminated because they lived outside Toledo have filed lawsuits.

Mr. Schwartz's case was assigned to Judge James Bates.