Image from Vestavia Hills Police Department Facebook page
The Vestavia Hills City Council on Monday voted unanimously to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a former Vestavia Hills police officer last year.
The female officer claimed that a male colleague sexually assaulted her at a coworker’s social gathering in Hoover in May 2024 by groping her and forcibly touching her in an intimate area. She filed a sexual assault report with the Hoover Police Department and reported the incident to leaders in her department and claims she was subjected to harassment and retaliation because of her criminal complaint and internal complaints in the Vestavia Hills Police Department.
The female officer claims in her lawsuit that several Vestavia Hills officers spread false, derogatory rumors that she was promiscuous and had been sexually involved with a superior when she worked for another law enforcement agency. The officers also spread false rumors that she had to have a medical procedure because of scarring and physical abrasions related to certain sex acts, the lawsuit claims. One colleague shared her criminal complaint with others in the department, the suit claims.
After an internal investigation, the officer whom she claims assaulted her was suspended for 30 days and demoted from corporal to a patrol officer, according to the lawsuit. The female officer was placed on inactive administrative status while her allegations were investigated and told in July 2024 that she was being retroactively docked 190 hours of personal leave time for the time she spent off duty.
The female officer claims that no action was taken about the false gossip being disseminated about her sex life and that she was denied reassignment to another unit that she had requested because of what she deemed to be a hostile work environment. She resigned from the department the day after being denied the transfer in October 2024.
Subsequently, the female officer claims that senior officials of the Vestavia Hills Police Department tried to damage her prospects of gaining employment with other agencies by providing those agencies with information about her reporting a sexual assault.
The city of Vestavia Hills, in its answer to the officer’s federal lawsuit, denies engaging in any unlawful employment practices and said it lacked sufficient information to characterize the interactions between the officer and the officer whom she accused as being a sexual assault.
The female officer filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June 2025 and was notified by the EEOC she had a right to file a lawsuit, so she filed that lawsuit in September. The parties entered mediation and reached a tentative agreement to settle outside of court.
The City Council on Monday signed off on paying the female officer $47,500 plus mediation costs.
Mayor Ashley Curry said his instinct, especially as a former law enforcement officer with the FBI, is to fight the lawsuit. “But that’s not a responsible thing to do for the city because that could cost the city much, much more,” Curry said.
The city did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, and it’s easier and better for the city to settle the case and move on, Curry said.
City Attorney Pat Boone noted in a letter to City Manager Jeff Downes that juries can be unpredictable.
In other business Monday, the Vestavia Hills City Council approved an amendment to a development agreement with the developer of The Shoppes at City Hall shopping center that allows the shopping center to have three restaurants instead of two, as spelled out in the initial agreement.
SWNA-Vestavia, the current owner of the shopping center, wants to redevelop the former Metro Diner space to accommodate a taco restaurant and Thai restaurant, Downes said. Because there already is another restaurant in The Shoppes at City Hall — Pappas’ Grill, an amendment to the development agreement is being requested.
