Cuyahoga County will pay $400,000 to former internal auditing director Monica Houston, ending a contentious employment dispute that started when the county declined to reappoint her after her four-year term ended in June 2024.
The payout was signed off on through Resolution R2026-0114, which appeared on the county council’s April 28 agenda and authorizes the county executive to execute a settlement agreement and appropriate the money. According to Cleveland.com, the deal does not include an admission of liability by the county and is structured to cover attorney fees, costs, wages Houston said she should have earned, and other compensatory damages.
What Houston Alleged
In her complaint, Houston argued that she was both discriminated against and retaliated against on the basis of age, race, gender, and disability. She also said the county rejected her requests to work remotely and later pointed to her use of family medical leave when deciding not to bring her back for another term.
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission reviewed the case, which is listed on the commission’s docket as 22A-2024-04283. According to the commission’s June 26, 2025 meeting minutes, commissioners voted that day to reinstate an earlier “no probable cause” finding in the matter.
Timeline And Department Changes
An outside investigator in 2021 reportedly found 10 of Houston’s 11 allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Houston has said she later received negative performance reviews after accusing the audit committee chair of bullying and interference.
Internal audit records for the department show Houston’s term ended on June 30, 2024, and that the July 2024 bank-reconciliation report was finalized and released by incoming director Cory Swaisgood. The same set of records, in the county’s bank reconciliation audit report, notes that Houston’s counsel sought privacy while the dispute was being resolved.
County Payouts And Context
Houston’s deal is only the latest multi-hundred-thousand-dollar settlement tied to workplace disputes to land on Cuyahoga County’s books. In one separate case, The Marshall Project detailed a different $400,000 payout that county council approved in December 2025. Earlier, in 2021, Ideastream reported the county had agreed to pay $550,000 to resolve a lawsuit filed by a fired budget director.
Those high-dollar settlements, along with the legal fees that trail behind them, have fueled scrutiny and reporting on how Cuyahoga County handles personnel disputes and its broader legal exposure.
Legal Note
By placing the Houston settlement on its docket, county council cleared the way for the county executive to finalize the agreement and move the money. According to the council agenda, the resolution authorizes execution of the settlement and appropriation of the $400,000 payment to resolve Houston’s claims, while county officials continue to emphasize that the deal does not constitute an admission of liability.
