A former legislative aide to St. Paul City Council Member Anika Bowie who was fired after five months on the job is suing Bowie and the city based on a highly critical email she circulated to 11 city officials after he was quickly rehired by another council member. Jon Berry filed his lawsuit on Mon day in Hennepin County District Court, and the case was assigned Tuesday to Judge Susan Burke. He is being represented by the Minneapolis law firm of Gustafson Gluek. In the 16-page civil filing, he accuses the city of violating the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act by illegally disclosing his private personnel data, and he accuses both defendants — Bowie and the city — of a single count of defamation and a single count of negligence. The city council met behind closed doors in January to consider Berry’s suit, when it was still deemed pending litigation, but the city has yet to file a formal legal response. Bowie and other city officials did not immediately return calls for comment on the lawsuit Wednesday. Hired last May Bowie hired Berry last May as her legislative aide, a position that paid $42 per hour, or more than $92,000 annually. He maintains he received “positive feedback from various city staff” about his job performance but was still let go by Bowie on Oct. 2, with the sole reason given being that he was “not a good fit” for the position, according to the lawsuit. On Oct. 21, St. Paul Council Member Cheniqua Johnson hired Berry back to City Hall for a 10-week part-time communications position in her office, a job that paid $17 per hour. St. Paul City Council Members Anika Bowie and Cheniqua Johnson. (Courtesy of the St. Paul City Council) After his rehiring, Bowie sent a two-page email that same day to 11 city officials, including Johnson, Berry, the city attorney, a deputy city attorney, officials with Human Resources and others who work in city finances. In that email, she “illegally disclosed private personnel data” about him and made four defamatory statements, according to the lawsuit. Berry maintains that much of the information Bowie shared by email was not true, but even misinformation can be characterized as private data under the law. Among the claims that Berry maintains constitute private data, Bowie accused him of a “misappropriation of travel funds” and unauthorized expenses during a Sept. 10 to Sept. 13 work trip. She noted he “consistently failed to meet the needs of the office, demonstrating a lack of organization and preparation for community meetings,” and she said he was terminated based on her decision to forego an investigation into the misappropriation of funds. Bowie said Berry was issued an employee improvement plan on Aug. 12, and he failed to meet expectations. “This statement is false and defamatory,” reads the lawsuit. “Mr. Berry was never issued an improvement plan by Councilmember Bowie. Accordingly, he never failed to meet any such improvement plan.” She also wrote in her email that there were rumors of a prior intimate relationship between Berry and Johnson, and that the relationship had been mentioned to her “by mutual acquaintances in Councilmember Johnson’s presence.” “No such conversation, in the presence of Councilmember Johnson, took place and, more importantly, Councilmember Johnson and Mr. Berry never had an intimate relationship,” reads the lawsuit. Email mailed out In what the lawsuit describes as yet another breach of state data privacy laws, someone anonymously mailed a printed copy of Bowie’s Oct. 2 email to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which published a front-page article about the internal council dispute in December after attempting to confirm details and interview individuals involved. Given that the email had initially been shared with city personnel, Berry maintains that it must have been a city employee who leaked it to the media. On Dec. 11, two days after the article was published, an independent investigator hired by the city substantiated a workplace conduct complaint against Bowie, which had been filed by Johnson in response to the Oct. 2 email. The investigator, who reviewed city records and conducted multiple interviews, found that Bowie violated city policy, defied state data privacy law and “potentially” defamed Berry. “The investigator concluded that Councilmember Bowie had ‘no objectively valid or productive business reason’ to ‘publicly disseminate the email to … 11 recipients,” states the lawsuit. Berry is seeking attorney’s fees and damages for an amount to be proven at trial. Related Articles St. Paul mayor declares state of emergency on trash collection St. Paul City Council convenes but doesn’t appoint new Ward 4 member Divided St. Paul City Council recommends new Ward 4 appointee for Friday vote Jason Adkins: Measuring the economic impact of the Catholic Church in Minnesota St. Paul mayor says council has ‘plunged the city into crisis’ by blocking garbage truck yard ...read more read less