MTA to Pay Fired Worker $330,000

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has agreed to pay a fired procurement manager more than $330,000 to settle racial discrimination charges, according to internal documents.

The discrimination case is one of several legal challenges and personnel changes recently within the agency’s procurement department, which since the mid-1990s has been the focus of critical Federal Transit Administration reviews.

In addition to the discrimination settlement, a former department compliance director has filed a claim against the agency alleging that he was fired after writing reports critical of internal practices. And last Friday, one of the procurement department’s highest-ranking deputies suddenly resigned.

The discrimination settlement springs from claims made by Kato Cooks, an African American who was a manager of compliance in the procurement department. Cooks worked at the MTA from 1998 until March 2002, when he was fired while on vacation.

He alleged that as he began to complain about procurement and administrative practices he thought improper, and after he spoke with the agency’s inspector general, he was marginalized within the department and told that he was not a “team player.” He alleged that he was eventually fired because of his race.

After reviewing Cooks’ case, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that the MTA “engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination” in laying him off.

Documents show that the MTA agreed in March to pay Cooks $130,887 in back wages and $200,000 in compensatory damages. The MTA must pay extra health insurance and state pension costs to Cooks and provide its workers training to educate them about their civil rights.

Cooks and the MTA also agreed to settle a second claim, which was based on his allegations that he was dismissed because he had cooperated with an investigation by the inspector general.

In another case, Rudy LeFlore, a former director of procurement compliance and business planning, filed a claim with the MTA in March, alleging that he was wrongfully fired last year.

LeFlore alleged that he was fired after he found that the MTA failed to follow agency and Federal Transit Administration guidelines and state laws in scores of procurement contracts he reviewed in 2002.

MTA officials said LeFlore’s claims have no merit. MTA Chief Executive Roger Snoble described LeFlore as a disgruntled worker who was fired for poor performance. Lonnie Mitchell, the MTA’s executive procurement officer, said LeFlore was downsized as part of an internal restructuring.

Tom Mahoney, a high-ranking member of the procurement department, resigned last week. Mahoney was one of three top deputies in the department and directly oversaw Cooks. MTA officials would not comment.