WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has settled its suit accusing the city of Marion of breaking a law by not reinstating a dispatcher when she returned from Alabama National Guard duty.

The department announced Thursday that it has entered into a consent decree with the city that will resolve the lawsuit on behalf of Cynthia Y. Davis if the U.S. District Court in Mobile approves it.

The July 2008 complaint alleged that the city violated a federal law by not reinstating Davis as the police dispatcher after she returned from six months of basic training in August 2007. The decree requires Marion to re-employ Davis at the rate of pay and with the amount of benefits she would have earned had she remained in the post.

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