Christopher Godfrey, formerly the Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner, has been awarded $1.5 million in damages, though that amount could grow.
Godfrey had been appointed to a six-year term by Branstad’s predecessor, Chet Culver, a Democrat. After Branstad was elected in 2010 he requested Godfrey resign.
According to Branstad, he requested all department heads and division directors resign so he could put in his own staffers. Three officials, including Godfrey, refused. But because of a law intended to stem partisan politics, Godfrey and the other holdouts couldn’t be fired. “I wanted to give him the opportunity to voluntarily resign, but I knew that I did not have the right to require him to,” Branstad testified.
After he repeatedly refused to resign, Godfrey’s yearly salary was slashed by Branstad from $112,070 to $73,250, the lowest pay allowed by law. Godfrey was the only official who refused to resign that was targeted with this treatment, his attorneys alleged.
Godfrey filed a discrimination suit in 2012, though the case was only heard by the Polk County Court this year.
“Keep in mind the day after Branstad did this—or it may have been the very day—I called the governor’s office and I said, ‘Restore his salary, apologize and it will be over,’” Godfrey’s attorney, Roxanne Conlin, told the Sioux City Journal. “Instead it took eight years to get justice. Eight very long years.”
Branstad denies Godfrey’s sexual identity was a factor in wanting his resignation.
“I have always treated everyone, gay or straight, with respect and dignity,” Branstad said the trial. “That’s the way I have always operated.” Branstad also claims he didn’t know Godfrey was gay until he threatened to sue.
The jury disagreed, awarding Godfrey $400,000 for his discrimination and retaliation claims, along with an additional $100,000 for emotional damage. The jury decided Godfrey’s constitutional due process rights were also denied and awarded him an additional $800,000 for emotional distress and $200,000 for any future distress.
Iowa taxpayers will be footing the bill for the judgement, which may be even larger as the judge is likely to rule that the state must also pay both Branstad and Godfrey’s attorney fees—which are estimated to be at least another million dollars.
Current Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Branstad’s former Lieutenant Governor, said the state is considering an appeal.
“We are disappointed in the verdict and are consulting with our attorneys,” Pat Garrett, a spokesman for Reynolds’s office told the Des Moines Register.
Godfrey now lives in Washington, DC, and is the chief judge of the U.S. Employees’ Compensation Appeal Board.
“It’s a huge weight [lifted] for me and my family and for other gay people in Iowa,” he told the Journal. “This is a day we can all be very, very happy about.”
