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Margie Love, then a Freeholder candidate, calls potential voters from the Gloucester County Regional Republican Headquarters on Wednesday, October 3, 2012. (File Photo by Calista Condo | South Jersey Times)

A Washington Township employee and former freeholder candidate will receive a $50,000 payout after the township council voted Wednesday to settle a lawsuit she levied against the municipality last year.

Margaret Love -- who unsuccessfully ran for Gloucester County freeholder on the Republican ticket in 2012 and 2013 -- sued the township after she was transferred from her position as a secretary in the public works department to a secretarial position with clerical duties in the township police department's records department.

Love's complaint alleged the transfer was a "punishment assignment" after she blew the whistle on a controversy surrounding a public works supervisors' contract, namely that salary increases were added into the contract after it was approved by council but before it was signed by the mayor.

Love claimed that she told her supervisor about the change -- which grew into a heated issue between members of council and the administration -- but was ignored. As members of councils called for an investigation into the contract switch, the FBI interviewed employees and soon after, Love said she was told she was transferred to police records after returning from a vacation.

Despite the transfer, she still retains her joint position of recycling coordinator for the township.

Love was seeking to be transferred back to her previous position through the suit, but her attorney Arthur Murray of the Jacobs and Barbone law firm said the township was unwilling to do so because she was needed in her current position.

Through a mediation process -- mandated in employment-related lawsuits -- they settled on the agreement with the $50,000 payment.

"The sides were able to reach a monetary settlement in what I would call a modest case," said Murray.

Washington Township Business Administrator stressed that the township admitted no fault "whatsoever" in the settlement, and reached the decision to settle based on a recommendation from the Municipal Excess Liability Joint Insurance Fund, or MELJIF, a government entity that pools risk-management resources for N.J. municipalities to help them handle large claims.

Smith said about $25,000 of the payment will come from the MELJIF, due to co-pays and deductibles, and $25,000 will come from township coffers.

"It essentially boils down to a business decision on the part of the insurance company," said Smith, adding that they had the option to continue with litigation, but even if they won, it would take at least $50,000 to bring take it through to a trial.

"At the end of the day, we're going to spend $50,000 anyway," said Smith.

Michelle Caffrey may be reached at mcaffrey@southjerseymedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ShellyCaffrey. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.