[T]hree former employees of the Agency of Transportation are suing the state, claiming they were discriminated against because of their sexuality.
In a suit filed in Washington County Superior Court last week, the three former employees say that they were passed over for promotions and pay raises and faced harassment at work.
“It’s a wonderful thing that as Vermonters we celebrate commitment to diversity,” Patrick Bernal, the lawyer representing the three plaintiffs, said in an interview Monday. “But in actuality there are a number of folks that continue to be discriminated against.”
All three employees left their jobs with the agency after unsuccessfully trying to resolve the issues they faced in the workplace, Bernal said.
Houston Lee, one of the plaintiffs, said that when he came forward with a complaint about how he was treated at work, he was told that the agency was a “redneck culture.”
“All I ever wanted to do was rise up the ranks of the AOT and work for the State where I have called home for most of my life,” Houston said in a statement Bernal supplied to VTDigger.
Lee was subject to derogatory remarks and threats from coworkers, including a supervisor, while working at the agency, the lawsuit claims. He now lives in New Hampshire, where he works as a short-haul truck driver.
Reina Dean left her job at the agency in December 2013 after working there for eight and a half years.
Dean was subject to jokes and “homophobic comments” because of her sexuality while working in maintenance, according to the lawsuit. Dean’s coworker repeatedly made sexual advances and groped her despite her objections, Dean alleges.
Although supervisors were aware of the behavior, they did nothing to intervene, the lawsuit states. Dean eventually went on “forced medical leave” after she had a nervous breakdown, which triggered an internal affairs investigation, but no action was taken, according to the suit.
Bernal said that Dean’s story in particular is “troublesome,” in part because “she he was hoping to make a home for herself,” Bernal said, after moving to Vermont from Texas because of the state’s progressive policies.
“I worked in a very openly homophobic atmosphere,” Dean said in a statement from her lawyer. “I just wanted to be treated equally, but my co-workers and supervisors never let me forget that I was a lesbian, and that I was ‘different’ from them.”
Dean, who lives in Barre, now works at a mental health facility.
Penny Barber, of Essex, who worked at AOT for four years in maintenance positions was passed over for promotions, with the jobs instead going to heterosexual male employees, the lawsuit alleges.
“No matter how hard I worked, and no matter how much my supervisors told me I was doing great work, I was never promoted,” Barber said in a statement through her lawyer.
Minter: “We have a zero tolerance policy”
Secretary of Transportation Commissioner Sue Minter could not speak to the claims in the lawsuit, but she said that the agency has had a goal of maintaining a respectful and tolerant workplace.
“Any allegation of discrimination or harassment is quite disturbing and something we take very seriously,” Minter said in an interview.
The agency recently established a task force to address issues of affirmative action and equal employment opportunities, which has been holding focus groups on tolerance and diversity, Minter said. The agency also carries out “tailgate talks” in every garage across the state to educate employees on harassment and discrimination.
“We have worked extremely hard to try to improve and address workplace culture,” Minter said. “We have a zero-tolerance policy and work to reinforce that throughout the agency.”
The AOT has also been working to train every supervisor so that they are aware of their responsibilities to respond to reports of harassment and discrimination, she said.
The Department of Human Resources has recently launched an initiative to train supervisors across state government in preventing harassment in the workplace, according to policy chief Tom Cheney.
Every state employee is trained in harassment prevention in orientation, he said, and the state offers courses in preventing sexual harassment.
A spokesman for the union that represents AOT workers said the suit’s implications are unacceptable.
“No worker, no matter their sexual preference, race, religion, or whatever, should ever be subjected to discrimination and harassment, especially in the workplace,” said Doug Gibson, a spokesperson for the Vermont State Employees’ Association, in a statement Monday.
Gibson said that the union will help the agency make changes to the workplace in response to the accusations based on the outcome of the lawsuit.
“If it’s found that this is a culture that is being permitted to exist within AOT, then VSEA is committed to helping the State end this culture once and for all and make the AOT a place where all Vermonters are welcome and wanted,” Gibson said.
Assistant Attorney General John Dunleavy, who works with AOT, said that the Attorney General’s Office will represent the state in the lawsuit, although the case has not yet been assigned within the office of the Attorney General.
The AOT has faced suits filed by former employees claiming harassment or discrimination in the past, Dunleavy said, which is not unusual for an agency of that size. According to Minter, there are approximately 1,300 AOT employees statewide.
Dunleavy expects the Attorney General’s office will take the preliminary steps in assigning the case in the next few weeks.
