A former top attorney for the Arizona Corporation Commission has agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit she filed against the commission last year.
According to federal court filings, former legal division director Robin Mitchell has reached an Agreement with the Arizona Department of Administration to settle the lawsuit.
Mitchell worked for the commission for 18 years, including five years leading the division that provides legal guidance and advice to the commissioners charged with regulating Arizona’s utility companies.
Mitchell, who is Black, was demoted in 2023. In the suit, she alleged the demotion was part of a larger pattern of discrimination against non-white employees under former commission Chair Jim O’Connor, claiming the number of non-white employees leading the commission’s seven divisions shrunk from four to one under the leadership of O’Connor and Executive Director Doug Clark.
O’Connor’s term on the commission ended last year and he did not seek re-election.
A commission spokeswoman denied those allegations last year.
The Arizona Department of Administration, not the commission, is in the process of finalizing the settlement with Mitchell.
“The state's risk management functions (claims against the state, insurance, etc.) are handled all through a division at ADOA. It is one of our central-service functions,” ADOA spokesman Timothy Tait said in an email.
The department declined a request for a copy of the settlement submitted by KJZZ under Arizona’s Public Records Law.
Tait said the department will release a copy of the settlement when it is finalized.
Attorneys for Mitchell did not respond to a request for comment.
