The Brisbane City Council offered an aggrieved employee $10,000 in hush money after she made a formal bullying complaint against the council chairman less than a month before this weekend's election, emails obtained by Fairfax Media reveal.

The woman had been employed by councillor Angela Owen-Taylor at her ward office in Parkinson, in Brisbane's south, for nearly three years when she walked out in early February, citing a history of behaviour that left her feeling "unsafe and fearful" at work.

After an unsuccessful mediation session on February 15, the council offered the employee a $10,000 severance payout and asked her to sign a confidentiality clause that prohibited her from disclosing details of Cr Owen-Taylor's behaviour.

She claims council staff also warned her to take the money, saying there would be ramifications if she pursued the formal complaint.