The City of Tampa has quietly cut a $350,000 check to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit brought by a former Mobility Department aide, sidestepping a public trial over allegations of retaliation and favoritism inside City Hall.
The settlement, tucked onto a February City Council agenda, formally ends the case before it could reach a jury.
What the lawsuit alleged
Scarlett Lopez, a senior executive aide in the city’s Infrastructure & Mobility office, says her problems started after she took medical leave. She alleges she was reassigned when she returned and later hit with a negative performance review following a miscarriage. Lopez filed a discrimination complaint with the city on April 19, 2022, was terminated when her temporary position ended in August 2022, and went on to sue the city in November 2023, according to Creative Loafing Tampa.
A federal case summary by Leagle shows that Lopez’s lawsuit claimed violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and Florida law.
How the city approved the settlement
City Council records describe a quiet but careful process behind the payout. Members first met in a closed attorney-client session to discuss the Lopez case, then came back in open session and voted to add “a resolution offering a compromise settlement” to the Feb. 19, 2026 agenda. The motion carried with one dissenting vote, according to the Tampa City Council transcript.
The transcript notes both the closed-door discussion and the roll-call motion placing the compromise settlement on the Feb. 19 docket, underscoring that the case moved through the council’s standard attorney-review process.
The official at the center
The lawsuit focuses on Jean Duncan, the city’s Administrator of Infrastructure & Mobility. The city’s FY2025 payroll supplement lists Duncan’s salary at $256,246.99, according to the FY2025 Schedule of Positions and Salaries.
Court testimony and the complaint compare Lopez’s treatment with that of an employee connected to Duncan, raising allegations that leave and hiring decisions were not handled the same way for both workers, according to Creative Loafing Tampa.
Mobility Department turmoil predates the case
Lopez’s lawsuit dropped into a department that was already under fire. Current and former employees had appeared at council meetings saying they felt excluded, micromanaged or even retaliated against, and several high-ranking staffers had left in recent years. In response, council members instructed the city’s chief of staff to bring in an outside employment attorney to review the city’s grievance and whistleblower procedures, according to the Tampa City Council transcript.
The episode unfolded just weeks before other high-profile personnel clashes, including the firing of Assistant Police Chief Ruth Cate, became public, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Legal bottom line
Before the settlement talks heated up, a federal judge had already weighed in. In a June 20, 2025 order, the court trimmed back several of Lopez’s discrimination claims but allowed certain retaliation claims to move ahead toward trial. Those rulings, detailed in the federal docket and summarized by Leagle, set the stage for negotiations.
The $350,000 payout closes Lopez’s case but leaves a bigger question hanging over Tampa’s Infrastructure & Mobility operation: whether the city’s handling of protected leave, internal complaints and hiring will actually change in a department that has been drawing criticism for years. Council members and top staff now have to show that outside reviews and any policy tweaks will translate into a workplace where employees do not feel punished for speaking up.
