CLAYTON, Missouri —
A former Missouri legislator with a controversial history of posting inflammatory statements on social media has won a $77,000 discrimination settlement claim with the St. Louis County government.
Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a former Missouri House representative and senator who was once censured for calling for the assassination of former President Donald Trump on social media, later landed a government job working for St. Louis County Councilwoman Rita Heard-Days as an aide.
In the fall of 2022, Heard-Days dismissed Chappelle-Nadal from her position without providing a public reason.
Now, according to a settlement agreement obtained by 5 On Your Side, we learned Heard-Days dismissed Chappelle-Nadal for her ongoing political commentary online.
She had a “history of expanding on things on social media,” on sites like “Facebook and YouTube," Heard-Days said in a Monday afternoon phone call.
Chappelle-Nadal declined to comment when reached by phone and referred reporters to her attorney.
Lawyers at the firm Hollingshead & Dudley represented Chappelle-Nadal's discrimination claim before the United States Equal Opportunity Commission and the Missouri Human Rights Commission.
"Her content was against the Prosecuting Attorney [Wesley Bell] and County Executive [Sam Page]," Heard-Days said. "Her claim was that I violated her First Amendment rights."
In what appears to be standard, boilerplate legal jargon, the county denied the allegations and rejected that it bore any legal liability for the claim of employment discrimination. Once the document has been signed, the county considers it a public document under Missouri state law.
According to the settlement agreement, which the St. Louis County councilor signed on Monday, the county will pay $46,200 to Chappelle-Nadal and the remaining $30,800 to her lawyers.
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