Scottsdale Insurance to Pay $1M to Fired Pennsylvania County Employees

A group of northeast Pennsylvania county workers will share a $1 million settlement that will end five years of federal litigation over firings they alleged were politically motivated.

The (Scranton) Tribune-Review says Lackawanna County’s former insurance provider agreed to pay the sum to the 17 workers and their attorney.

Attorney John Dean, who represents Arizona-based Scottsdale Insurance, said no taxpayer money will be paid because the county was fully covered.

He said Scottsdale Insurance decided to settle although the commissioners “would have obviously preferred to go to trial.”

The employees alleged they were fired in 2008 soon after the commissioners’ office changed from Republican to Democratic hands.

The defendants said the firings weren’t politically motivated but were an effort to erase the county’s reputation of political patronage hiring.