Multnomah County has paid $200,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former employee who says he was fired after repeatedly complaining about a Portland police officer’s reference to the n-word during a presentation to youths.

The county agreed to pay Emanuel Price about 40 percent of the $470,000 he sought in his March 2017 lawsuit.

A county spokeswoman declined comment Friday, saying the public settlement involved a confidential personnel matter.

According to Price's lawsuit, he was hired to promote respect for multiculturalism and inclusion as an employee for the county’s Office of Diversity and Equity. But he said he was instead “fired for what I got hired for.”

Price’s lawsuit said his work troubles began after he became disturbed while listening to police Sgt. Tim Sessions make a presentation to the county’s Youth Commission in January 2016 about real-life examples of cyber-bullying.

The sergeant told the story of a Latino boy who mispronounced the n-word during an argument with a black boy -- and that the sergeant laughed as he said aloud the mispronounced word, according to the lawsuit and Price’s lawyer Ashlee Albies.

“He made fun of the Mexican guy not being able to pronounce it,” Price told The Oregonian/OregonLive at the time he filed his lawsuit. “... It was just really ugly. It was terrible.”

Price, who is black and Latino, stopped the presentation and later complained to his manager, the county’s human resources department and ultimately to the police sergeant during a meeting in February 2016, the suit said. Sessions apologized but said there might be times when he needed to actually say the offensive word, according to the lawsuit.

Nine days later, the county fired Price. Price contended it was in retaliation for continuing to have difficult conversations about race.

In court papers, the county said Price was fired for poor work attendance and failing to communicate with his supervisor.

Price had complained to the Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries after his firing, but a state investigator in November 2016 found he lacked “substantial evidence” to prove retaliation.

The county commissioners approved the $200,000 payment to Price last month.

-- Aimee Green