CTA accused of videotaping employees changing

Five former and current Chicago Transit Authority employees are suing over claims their employer videotaped them changing last year.

Duane Laba, Steve Affarano, Duffy McGann, Robert Schak and Julia Berkowitz filed a lawsuit April 10 in the Cook County Circuit Court against the CTA, citing violations of the right to privacy, civil rights and unreasonable search.

According to the complaint, the plaintiffs were CTA employees at the Harlem and Lake Green Line station, which contained lockers in an "electrical room" that employees used to store belongings and change.

They claim the CTA placed a video camera in the electrical room without informing employees, recorded them changing and then used information obtained in the videos to fire some them.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages in excess of the jurisdictional limit and are being represented in the case by attorneys Clifford Horwitz and Jay Luchsinger of Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L004075.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.