Ex-Spokeswoman Sues Amara Enyia, Alleges Candidate Owes Her $24K in Backpay

Enyia says the ex-spokeswoman agreed to work as a volunteer on the campaign, not as a paid staffer

A former spokeswoman for Chicago mayoral candidate Amara Enyia has filed a lawsuit alleging the candidate has refused to pay her $24,000 in backpay for the work she did while on the campaign.

Kristi Kucera, who is Enyia’s former Communications Director, says she worked for the candidate for four months and has not been paid money owed to her.

In the lawsuit, Kucera says she and Enyia had an agreement to provide communications services, but the former spokeswoman left the campaign in mid-December, citing “several unknown and troubling factors.”

Enyia’s campaign issued a statement disputing the lawsuit, saying that Kucera worked for the candidate on a “volunteer basis” and that she knew of the arrangement during her work.

“Today’s lawsuit from Ms. Kucera and her legal team is awfully transparent given the timing,” the campaign said in a statement. “Ms. Kucera understood she was working on a volunteer basis given the early stage of the campaign, but she decided to resign before we could agree on a paid position. While we can’t discuss details of pending litigation, we are confident that the facts will fall in our favor. In the meantime, we will continue to focus on critical issues, such as systemic racism, improving our schools and investing in our neighborhoods.”

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In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Kucera says that she went through several channels to try to get the back pay before filing the seuit.

“I had an agreement with her,” she told the paper. “She never paid me. I sent her invoices, I sent her a demand letter, (and) my lawyer met with her lawyer.”

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