Plainfield Park District Agrees to Pay Former Employee $8,960

• Read — Plainfield Park District Retaliated Against Pro-Union Employee: Labor Board

According to the agreement, which was obtained by Patch through a Freedom of Information Act request, the amount represents 16 weeks of Schumaker's wages. The staffer was fired in November after allegedly being disciplined by former Executive Garrett Peck for talking to coworkers about signing union cards.

The park board approved the settlement at its March 4 meeting, following a Jan. 9 ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board (ILRB) that that the park district had violated state labor law.

The ruling, which came after the park district's labor attorney failed to respond to the AFSCME complaint by a 15-day deadline, found that  Peck, who has since resigned, and current Interim Executive Director Gene Coldwater had interrogated Schumaker and a coworker regarding their union activity.

Under the agreement, the park district states that it will not challenge Schumaker's unemployment claim, and will remove any reference to his discipline and termination from his personnel file.

The agreement also includes a clause banning Schumaker from making disparaging comments about the park district, its trustees or staff.

Under the deal, the park district does not have to post a notice to staff regarding the alleged labor law violations, which was part of the labor board's original ruling.

"AFSCME, its agents and Mr.Schumaker agree that they will not seek to enforce the notice posting provision," the pact states, going on to say that both sides "agree and acknowledge that this agreement is not and shall not be used as, or construed to be, an admission of liability of any kind or nature ..." by either party.

The labor board's January ruling had ordered the park district to offer Schumaker full reinstatement of his job, but under the new pact, the former employee has agreed to resign from the park district.

The pact also prohibits Schumaker and the AFSCME from disclosing the terms of the deal to any third party, including agreeing not to "post, blog or email ... such information using the Internet or any social media website."