Despite a troubled work history in the prosecutor's office, Rebecca Collins will move Tuesday from the office's civil division into the criminal division, where she will try cases in municipal court.

MIKE ALLEN SCANDAL Judge Crush holds his head as he listens to the arguments of Carrie Davis Thursday. The Enquirer/GARY LANDERS

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Collins, 33, sued Allen Aug. 26 in federal court alleging Allen coerced her into an affair, denied her promotions and threatened to ruin her career if she stopped seeing him.

The job change was set forth in a memo dated Aug. 24 - 12 days after Collins gave Allen a letter saying she planned to file the lawsuit. But she said she would settle the matter for $3 million to avoid going to court. The offer came just a day before Allen publicly admitted the 31/2-year extramarital affair and ended negotiations with Collins' lawyers.

In that memo, obtained by the Enquirer, Carl Stich, who is Collins' supervisor, wrote to Collins saying Allen had authorized the move to municipal court from the civil division if she wanted it.

Collins said Friday she agreed to the job switch on Sept. 10.

Stich said Collins was moved because the job became open, not because Allen's private attorney, Michael Hawkins, and attorneys for Collins were negotiating a possible settlement of her pending lawsuit when the offer was made.

"I don't know how anybody could think there's something sinister about it," Stich said. "If there's an opening, we want to permit a person to go to the division they are more interested in."

Allen could not be reached for comment Friday.

Hawkins said he was aware of the offer to put Collins in the criminal division.

"The memo was to show her that she wasn't being denied this job," Hawkins said.

Collins' lawyer, Sheila Smith, said Friday that no one should misinterpret Collins' job change as a move toward settling her lawsuit.

In her new job, Collins will prosecute people charged with misdemeanor crimes committed in Hamilton County, but outside the city of Cincinnati. The move is considered lateral. It does not come with a raise to her annual salary of $43,800.

Allen's wife, Lisa, is one of 14 judges in that court, but it is unlikely the prosecutor's office would assign Collins to try cases in front of Judge Allen.

"I've not been informed of the move officially, but if that's the case, I look forward to going to work and doing the best job I can under the circumstances," Collins said.

Collins has been on sick leave from the office for the past several days.

Smith said moving Collins to the criminal division was the right thing for the prosecutor's office to do.

"This gets her back on track," Smith said.

Office records about Collins' previous work performance show she routinely arrived to work late, argued with co-workers, missed court assignments and broke office rules. The records portray Collins as an unreliable and disruptive assistant prosecutor who was often warned about her behavior, but never punished.

Collins said her supervisor never mentioned problems until last December and even then didn't give her specifics or offer ways she could improve.

Collins names the board of county commissioners as defendants in the lawsuit. She seeks unspecified monetary damages and promotions she claims she was denied.

In the lawsuit, Collins said she was twice denied moves to municipal court, once in January 2003 and again in spring 2004, after she broke off the relationship with Allen. Collins said Allen blocked her from moving to municipal court in April and she then went to work in the civil division.

"Allen withheld promotional opportunities and other benefits from (Collins), gave her unfavorable work assignments, and treated her unfavorably in the terms and conditions of her employment because of her gender and her rejection of his unwelcome sexual advances," the lawsuit says.

Collins said her goal is to become a good trial attorney:

Her new job, she said, "is the place where you become one."

Voters will elect a new prosecutor who will take over the first of January.

Collins isn't sure what that means for her.

"Ideally, I'd like to stay," she said.

"But it's hard to predict what the future holds."