When Hennepin County prosecutor Amy Sweasy Tamburino won a $190,000 settlement in April stemming from a discrimination and retaliation complaint against her employer and boss Mike Freeman, one condition was her earning a new title: principal attorney.
But Freeman sent out an email weeks later announcing that six other attorneys would also have the prestigious and rare title, according to a lawsuit filed this week. Sweasy, an attorney in the office since 1995 who has prosecuted dozens of high-profile cases, said in the lawsuit that it's one of the many ways Freeman violated the settlement.
Months after the settlement was reached following her complaint to the Department of Human Rights, Sweasy is again accusing Freeman of ongoing retaliation and undermining her new role in the office. Freeman is retiring after 24 years and was Sweasy's boss for most of her career. She says in the lawsuit filed Wednesday that the county, also named in the complaint, allowed Freeman to continue violating the agreement.
Freeman declined an interview but emailed a brief statement: "We intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit. We will have no further comment while this matter is pending."

Sweasy's attorney, Sonia Miller-Van Oort, also declined an interview but provided a statement highlighting her client's "25-year track record of success prosecuting some of the most serious criminal cases in this county."
Miller-Van Oort said that Sweasy is widely respected, and after calling out Freeman's "inappropriate and unlawful behavior," all parties reached a good-faith resolution.
"Ms. Sweasy has met all of her obligations under the settlement agreement. Ms. Sweasy wants to do her job — as we all do — free of intimidation and retaliation. Defendants' conduct over the last 6 months has made that impossible. As a result, our client was forced to file this new lawsuit to address ongoing breaches of the contract and the intentional and calculated interference and retaliation she is experiencing professionally."
Part of the agreement meant she would no longer report to Freeman or have private interactions with him to stop any of his retaliatory conduct directed at her. The agreement also allowed her to develop and lead the new Complex Prosecution Unit, which handles significant homicides, child abuse, domestic abuse, cold cases and matters relating to career offenders.