Ex-Police Chief Dawn Malec Seeks $400K Settlement From Joliet

JOLIET, IL — Demoted Joliet Police Chief Dawn Malec is willing to leave and retire in 2022 if Joliet gives her a lump sum payout of $400,000 "to compensate her for the damage to her reputation," according to a proposed settlement submitted by Malec's attorney, Naomi Frisch of the Chicago law firm of Asher, Gittler & D'Alba.

In addition to $400,000, Malec's proposed settlement also expected Joliet to let her retire with the job title of Joliet police chief "one year after the date the agreement is signed."

Malec's lawyer has also asked that Malec "be placed on paid leave (and) she will not be required to work at City Hall or any other place of work, but she will receive the full salary and benefits she would have received as chief of police" plus a "2 percent cost of living adjustment for one year past the date the agreement is signed."

If Joliet does not agree to those demands in hopes of avoiding a lawsuit, Malec's lawyer proposed an alternative: Malec receive a $100,000 lump-sum payment "to compensate her for the damage caused to her reputation."

Additionally, while Malec remains on the police department as a lieutenant, Joliet would be obligated to pay Malec what she would have earned in a police chief's salary "until she retires in good standing from her position with the title of chief of police," according to the proposed settlement letter from Malec's lawyer.

The five-page letter, sent to Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli on Nov. 22, was obtained by Joliet Patch this week through a Freedom of Information Act request to the city of Joliet.

Patch has published the entire letter at the bottom of this article.

"Dawn intends to pursue her rights to the fullest extent of the law," Frisch wrote Capparelli Nov. 22. "Her demotion, intended termination and the removal of her police powers were unlawful ... However, Dawn prefers a swift resolution so that she can move forward without significant losses."

One section of Malec's proposed settlement letter asserts, "Dawn was removed from her position because she is a woman, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964."

"There are many examples of your conduct which infer that Dawn was removed from her position as chief and then stripped of her police powers because she is a woman," Malec's lawyer wrote Capparelli.

Sources told Joliet Patch the city of Joliet has rejected Malec's settlement proposal.

Malec began the year as a Joliet police patrol lieutenant, but on Jan. 8, Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner submitted his retirement notice just two days after negotiating a raise of more than $31,000 as an incentive to leave the city of Joliet after 29 years of service.

The following week, Capparelli took over City Hall as the new permanent city manager, and he named Malec as Roechner's replacement.

After less than nine full months on the job, Capparelli announced that he had fired Malec.

"Joliet City Manager Jim Capparelli announces Police Chief Dawn Malec's employment with the Joliet Police Department has ended effective immediately. The City of Joliet thanks former Chief Malec for her years of dedicated service to the Joliet community and wishes her well in her future endeavors," Capparelli's news release announced Oct. 6.

When Capparelli fired Malec as police chief, he did not know about a city of Joliet collective bargaining agreement already in place that allowed Malec to return to her previous rank as a police lieutenant upon being removed from a top command position at the Joliet Police Department.

Malec has been with the Joliet Police Department since 1994. She spent most of her career in patrol operations. She was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2009, lieutenant in 2014 and chief in January 2021.

After spending several weeks in the City Clerk's Office following her police chief demotion, Malec has returned to the Joliet police station, where she remains a lieutenant, the same job title she began the year.

Now that Malec is no longer filling the chief's role, Malec's annual salary has also been reduced, Joliet Patch determined through another Freedom of Information Act request.

On Nov. 8, Joliet Patch published an exclusive article headlined, "Dawn Malec Will Still Be Fired From Joliet: Capparelli Vows." Patch obtained a memo informing Malec that even though she remains a city of Joliet employee under her old rank of lieutenant, Capparelli still intended to get her fired.

His memo written in October notified Malec that she will be fired from the city of Joliet "due to your recent misconduct including but not limited to your refusal to follow direct orders, your failure to provide pertinent information in a timely manner and your violation of Police Department General Orders regarding confidentiality."