DETROIT – Wayne County will pay $395,000 to settle a wrongful discharge case brought by Azzam Elder, who was deputy executive to former Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano.

Commissioners approved a settlement today 14-1, with Commissioner Ilona Varga, D-Lincoln Park voting no, in the wrongful discharge suit.

Elder had sued the county, Ficano and former Wayne County Commissioner Bernard Parker, who was forced to remain part of the lawsuit after an appeals court ruling last year. Elder alleged he was retaliated against and forced to resign for refusing to take part in a cover-up related to the scandal over a $200,000-severance payment  to Turkia Mullin, who had been the county’s Chief Development Officer. 

Mullin received the severance payment when she left her county post to become CEO of  Metro Airport. 

County Corporation Counsel Zenna Elhasan recommended accepting the settlement because of the cost if the county were to lose the case in a civil trial.

“An adverse judgment could reach a high six-figure sum,” according to a letter from her office provided to the commission.

In addition to the settlement, the county will pay the $33,511.21 in Elder’s leave banks to avoid the cost of litigation and trial, the letter said.

Ficano, Elder and Mullin avoided charges in a three-year federal corruption probe that wrapped up earlier this year. The probe resulted in four guilty pleas and one conviction. Two county officials who pleaded guilty — Tahir Kazmi and Michael Grundy — reported directly to Elder. Kazmi pleaded guilty to bribery, and Grundy pleaded guilty to fraud.