ACLU Suit Alleges Harassment of Female Transit Officers

The ACLU filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the county’s transit police force--and its female police chief--of subjecting women officers to a “pervasive pattern of sexually offensive” discrimination and harassment.

The class-action suit, filed in Los Angeles federal court, contends that a “hostile work environment” at the state’s 10th-largest police agency has contributed to a significant decline over the last 10 years in the proportion of women on the 367-member MTA force--”from a high of approximately 20% of the force to slightly more than 5% currently.”

“It’s all about an environment that tells women on a daily basis that, despite the fact that the chief is a woman, women don’t belong in the rank and file,” said Carol A. Sobel, senior staff counsel of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. “This department doesn’t even have a mechanism, if you believe the chief, for letting her know what’s going on in her own department.”

The suit follows a Times report that at least a third of the women officers at the MTA have filed complaints accusing a small group of men of engaging in harassment, including bumping or groping them in hallways, making lewd remarks, humiliating them at staff meetings and circulating embarrassing photographs.

The suit alleges that male officers have used sexual harassment “as an instrument for maintaining control” over female officers.

“Because of MTA’s inaction, female officers are forced to endure work contact with the harasser for months or move to a less desirable assignment,” the suit alleges.

Franklin E. White, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, declined to comment Tuesday, and Police Chief Sharon Papa could not be reached for comment.

“We haven’t been served with the suit yet, so we can’t comment on it. . . . But in general, we won’t tolerate any form of discrimination or harassment,” MTA spokeswoman Andrea Greene said.

Asked whether the recent firings or disciplinary actions against four top male officers over harassment allegations validated the concerns of female officers, Greene said: “It shows that action has been taken against officers who violate MTA policy, and that policy works.”

But Sobel contested that assertion. “What it shows is that only after the women went public with their complaints did the department respond,” she said. “Nine months went by before an officer who grabbed a female sergeant’s breast was in any way disciplined.”

Sobel, a member of a legal team that is also suing the Los Angeles Police Department over alleged sexual discrimination and harassment, said many of the MTA’s problems stem from LAPD transfers. “You don’t help your situation in the MTA if you bring in people who have worked in an environment that has tolerated harassment and discrimination,” Sobel said.

Shari V. Barberic, an MTA police sergeant, said the legal maneuver shows the depth of frustration felt by women on the force.

“For any police officer to go to the ACLU speaks volumes about the severity of the problem in the first place,” said Barberic, who has filed her own sexual harassment lawsuit against the MTA. “Customarily, the police and the ACLU have kind of an adversarial relationship, but when you’ve continually been denied redress through internal channels, you have to look for a solution elsewhere.”

Barberic said the suit will worsen morale at the department. But she said, “What we’re looking forward to is just a chance to have an individual and unbiased look at the problem. When you’re constantly just labeled a troublemaker without the benefit of an investigation, you just want it be resolved. And unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like anything short of a major [legal] action will do that.”

Another officer, Sgt. Marla E. Miller, said little progress has been made. “The harassment is still occurring,” she said Tuesday.

Papa said in October that she had taken steps to remedy the problem, including firing one male sergeant who was the target of a harassment complaint.

According to sources, another male officer--the head of the Internal Affairs Division, which investigates harassment claims--was recently fired after a harassment complaint was filed against him by a female officer. Another sergeant was suspended for 20 days over a harassment claim, and a fourth officer, a lieutenant, was placed on 30 days leave.

The suit seeks a permanent ombudsman to investigate sexual discrimination complaints and an injunction directing the hiring and assignment of female officers on an equal basis with male officers unless an occupational qualification is demonstrated. Unspecified damages also are sought.

The MTA inspector general’s office has also been reviewing harassment claims at the department.