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Former Green Line driver wins $2.6 million discrimination verdict against the MBTA
By adamg on Sat, 10/29/2016 - 10:41am
A federal jury last week awarded Michelle Dimanche of Hyde Park more than $2.6 million for discrimination by co-workers and supervisors in the two years before the T fired her in 2013. A federal judge yesterday upheld the amount.
Dimanche argued that not only did white supervisors harass her, they ordered her black co-workers to join in in the years before she was fired in 2013. The jury in US District Court in Boston awarded her $1.325 million in compensatory damages and another $1.3 million in punitive damages.
The MBTA argued Dimanche, a black woman from Haiti, failed to prove managers acted out of anything other than concern for the job she was doing and that the root issue was a long-standing dispute between her and another Haitian T worker over the affections of a man - who ultimately married Dimanche. The T pointed to a decision by the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination that had found in its favor.
The T can appeal the verdict to the US Court of Appeals in Boston.
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| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Dimanche complaint | 186.13 KB |
| MBTA memorandum to dismiss | 160.95 KB |
| MCAD decision | 428.71 KB |
| Jury verdict | 30.48 KB |
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Comments
APPEAL IS WELL WARRANTED!
Appeal this and hire some decent lawyers. In addition the ENTIRE HR Department at the MBTA should be outsourced and stop hiring idiots.
Here's a better idea
Stop bullying in the workplace. Prevent bullying in the workplace. Fire the bullies, not the victims.
Workplace bullying is a serious problem and employers have a responsibility to STOP IT.
This woman won this judgement BECAUSE OF BULLYING, not because the T doesn't have good lawyers.
Instead of your insane BUT BUT BUT BUT BUT nonsense, insist that the MBTA STOP BULLYING NOW.
its all so simple!
its all so simple!
She is lying my mother did
She is lying my mother did not descriminate against her. She was an awful employee and was always messing up and when she would get talked to or writen up she cries discrimination. Its too bad that some people who actually get discriminated against don't make out like this phony.
That's nice dear
Are you smarter than a judge and jury? Or just mama's special excuse maker.
Did you hear the case?
Because the people who heard the case decided that this remedy was due and appropriate.
Sorry the penalties and litigation costs are coming out of our tax dollars, and sorry to anyone who doesn't like that a Haitian immigrant was awarded money, but the court says that the MBTA is at fault here.
I don't know whether an appeal is appropriate, and you did not say anything that suggested you knew grounds for an appeal, so for now we stick with what the court found.
Based on reading the
Based on reading the complaint, it seems the jury fucked up. The case looks very weak to me, and the fact that the MCAD ruled against her further confirms that to me. You can easily get a jury full of idiots that are all too happy to take advantage of their chance to stick it to the man, so that is not too surprising.
You misstated the MCAD ruling
MCAD did not rule against her nor did it rule in her favor - it also did not declare the T was in compliance with its statutory obligations. Rulings such as this are neither uncommon or unique. MCAD's scope of regulatory oversight is limited to MGL 151B…a fairly narrow scope of discriminatory laws. If the evidence in a case does not address specific discriminatory issues, they can not rule on the complaint.
Interestingly, you read the complaint and conclude the jury was f'd up? Curious, how did you conclude the jury was full of idiots that are trying to stick to the man?
Conjecture, speculation, unsupported opinion but no evidence or facts.
I agree with you 100%
The problem is that the T is afraid of individuals like this and as you see what the outcome was. Can we as taxpayers demand a better defense team be hired to take on the appeal ? They need to dig in to everything about this individual and who her acquaintances were and if any of the individuals that she say were messing with her were in fact part of her scheming.
Believe me when I tell you that for it to get to the point where they were actually are paying her something is totally wrong. Even if they don't find anything of that nature they need to go back and talk with all people's who have worked with her whether it be coworkers who were in the second car that she was driving or past supervisors etc etc. I don't believe they did all there homework here. I'm sorry but as a tax payer I am pissed.
That's insane
No wonder draconian measures are often taken to limit liability.
Do you really believe draconian measures are required?
The great myth of employment and workplace law suits is that employees file them all the time - it is simply nt true. Few attorneys or law firms take employment cases on a contingency basis - consequently the average employee can not afford the $100k cost of pursuing a case against a company or organization.
We do not need to erect more barriers for people to be able seek relief for wrong-doing levied against them by their employers with "harsh and repressive" measures…employers ought to address misconduct and make their people behave. The T keeps losing these cases because they won't address their discriminatory culture.
The purpose of punitive damages is to punish the repeat offenders - they could avoid this by stopping their actions.
What did the Police do?
According to the above documents the Police respond to Riverside and removed her after she filed a false report that another employee had attacked her. If this is true why wasn't she charged criminally with filing a false police report?
If the jury believed her than Carmen Ortiz should be investigating the MBTA for possible civil rights charges and this is probably the tip of the iceberg.
Carmen Ortiz is a joke! If
Carmen Ortiz is a joke! If she actually did her job without the politics Carmen Ortiz would have charged politicians in the Probation Scandal and not just O'Brien!
People are so clueless
This woman was not discriminated against. She was an awful employee always blaming supervisors of discrimnating against her. One time she even just left work without permission and left a train stranded. Its funny how some people get settlements that don't deserve them and the people that really get discriminated against doesnt get a dime. It is almost like how some guilty go free and the innocent get sentenced. What a joke!
What? Are you kidding me?
2.6 Million dollars? How about give her $80,000
Thi is not a one-off case
The MBTA has a long history of bias complaints: repeatedly over the last two plus decades investigators have found widespread discrimination, harassment, and retaliation at the agency. The T has repeatedly lost high-profile lawsuits In recent years, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has received more complaints against the T than any other organization, public or private
For example, a jury awarded MBTA employee Hiram Clifton $5.5 million after he said he was subjected to nearly a decade of racist teasing by supervisors in 1999. Former high level T administrator Roberta Edwards won a $7.6 million verdict after she said the agency retaliated against her for filing a discrimination and retaliation complaint.
Even the Attorney General's office found continued allegations of discrimination, including distribution of “lewd and racist’’ literature and reports that some employees had established segregated locker rooms. The report also found a lack of women and minorities in higher positions.
There is nothing new going on…except new complaints and lawsuits. This is the most mismanaged and dysfunctional agency, IMO, in the state and that is saying something given its competition from other agencies.
Multiple, Serious Allegations
I glanced at the briefing submitted by Dimanche. She alleges multiple civil rights incidents involving multiple MANAGEMENT personnel. Granted, they are only allegations. However, a jury decided there's substance to them.
IMHO, Dimanche has a much stronger case than one often sees -- e.g., the Brookline firefighter's case (based on the public record).
Add civil rights to the many MBTA problems,
What a F---ing joke
The taxpayers need to be up in arms about that and should demand a better lawyer take on this appeal and fire the T lawyer who had this case. There is no way that she should of been awarded a penny. All the things that she did were in fact correct and I would assume even more. This woman was trouble from day1 and I can't believe that it even came this far as to even give her a chance to collect anything. I can say a lot more but I'm not at this time but as a taxpayer I am very unhappy.
No
The taxpayers should be up in arms that the MBTA is operating like a high school goon squad.
The threat of appeal is just a case mgmt tactic
Appeals courts look for procedural errors, misapplication of the law, misconduct by the jury, etc. - you don't win appeals because you don't like the verdict. The T knows this - a new lawyer is not going to produce new evidence
The T says appeal because they want to try and settle the case for less than the judgment. Appeals take a long time to be heard - the Plaintiff's lawyer will tell their client a couple of things: you are facing a whole slew of new legal expenses beyond what you have now - the risk is that the Defendant could win and you will have nothing - (the T will offer to settle the case for a third of the judgment - the Plaintiff will come back and say 3/4 of the judgment - they go back a forth but most likely the case will settle for between a half and 2/3's of the award
By the way - for those of you who apparently know all the details of what happened (first hand - direct observations not hearsay or from you auntie or nephew) I assume you testified - well apparently the juror didn't believe you. If you had all of the empirical evidence & didn't come forward, why not?
I also love the part where someone says: she should get only 80k as if they had a clue how awards are calculated - this thread is a perfect example of folks just not having rudimentary understand of employment law and rights
Anyone defending the T deserves to have the work there
2.6 suit won against MBTA
This is not the first time MBTA has been found at fault for their discriminatory practices (https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/01/14/mbta-nears-deal-revamp-empl...). The public, taxpayers, should be upset that politicians protect a lot of the management personnel who clearly have failed to reign in the bad, administrative and supervisory actors. An action that costs the taxpayer that kind of money (2.6mil) should trigger a revamping from the top down. One of the administrators involved in the Dimanche case was the same individual who ordered officials to leave her lying on a bench after she requested an ambulance until he arrived there to examine.....correction.......... to interview her. Believe!