A federal jury has awarded a Black Chicago Transit Authority electrician $99,000, finding the CTA did too little to respond to the man’s claims that he was being harassed at work for reporting alleged racial discrimination by his foreman.
The harassment allegedly included the hanging of an alleged noose in his work site.
On Jan. 27, the jury delivered a verdict in favor of Lasona McKinney.
McKinney had filed suit against the CTA in 2020, after nearly two years of alleged mistreatment at the hands of his coworkers.
According to the complaint, McKinney claimed the alleged problems began in October 2018, when he first complained about alleged racial discrimination by his foreman.
McKinney claims he was then “met with a barrage of retaliatory and harassing acts by his co-workers.”
After he complained, McKinney said he was reassigned from working on the CTA’s Red Line, which was nearer to his home in Chicago’s South Suburbs, to the north end of the Blue Line. He said this made it more difficult for him to see his father, who was dying of cancer.
He also alleged the CTA took away his service vehicle, forcing him to ride trains to job sites, while carrying all of his tools and equipment, including ladders.
He claimed he was excluded from important meetings; a toy rat was placed next to his computer – a “sign to stop ‘ratting’ about the racial discrimination;’ he was denied access to tools and essential keys, including keys to bathrooms; and was allegedly told by a co-worker that “they were going to ‘eradicate the problem.’”
Further, other electricians allegedly told him they could not work with him any longer, on orders from his foreman.
McKinney claimed the mistreatment culminated in finding a noose hung at the 54th Street Garage, a job site to which he had been dispatched.
McKinney claims when he notified CTA management of the alleged mistreatment, “they wouldn’t do anything; they brushed it under the rug.”
McKinney said he also received no help from his union.
The CTA disputed McKinney’s claims, pointing to alleged repeated instances in which McKinney complained about the distribution of overtime among workers. The CTA also presented a witness who asserted a more innocuous explanation for the alleged job site noose.
The court, however, “found that a reasonable jury could conclude that the rope McKinney allegedly found at the 54th Street Rail shop was in the shape of a noose.”
McKinney’s claims advanced to trial on Jan. 23. After four days of proceedings, the jury ruled in McKinney’s favor, bringing the case to an end, pending any possible appeals.
“We’re delighted with the win. It’s been a long time coming for Mr. McKinney, suffering through things he never should have experienced,” said McKinney’s attorney Paul Strauss, of Chicago. “We’re grateful for the patience and attention of the jury.”
The CTA was represented in the case by attorneys Matthew A. Hurd and Jeffrey C. Grossich, of the firm of Ancel Glink, of Chicago; and attorney Peter C. McNamara, of the CTA law department.