Russia Brown, a former Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus driver whose legal wrangling years ago resulted in the agency adding gender-affirming surgery to its health insurance plan, is in the process of suing both the CTA as well as his former union.
Brown filed suit against the transit agency and ATU Local 241 over an Oct. 2020 suspension without pay and eventual firing on Jan. 7, 2021 alleging, according to the court filing, "discrimination and retaliation against Plaintiff on the basis of his sex, gender identity and transgender status under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and pursuant under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution … and Plaintiff also brings claims of retaliation and interference of exercise of rights under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)."
Brown contacted the ACLU of Illinois for legal assistance five years ago because he wanted to receive gender affirming surgery, and CTA's health insurance policy did not cover it. Due to ACLU's intervention prior to a lawsuit being filed, CTA agreed to add gender-affirming care to their health insurance plan.
It took Brown many months to get this health insurance coverage issue resolved because CTA management made him jump through unnecessary hoops for them to pay for his bilateral mastectomy surgery.
Brown eventually relocated from the Jefferson Park station on Chicago's Northwest Side to the 77th Street station on Chicago's South Side, which is closer to his home. Brown was also looking for a fresh start after the surgery. This did not stop the alleged anti-trans discrimination Brown has faced from CTA, as well as Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 241 management and fellow CTA employees, since he started working for the the agency in 2016.
Brown's filing states that both the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice notified Brown that he was authorized to file this lawsuit in April 2021 and Feb. 2022 respectively.
According to the court filing, "In 2017, an employee at Defendant CTA raised an issue with Plaintiff using the men's restroom [while] a representative from CTA's EEO told Plaintiff he was allowed to use the men's restroom. After this, the general manager of Plaintiff's garage told Plaintiff to instead use the clerk's restroom to be 'safer,' because he did not want employees that complained about Plaintiff's use of the men's restroom to get into trouble.
"Per the general manager's directive, Plaintiff used the clerk's restroom. The clerk questioned why Plaintiff was using the clerk's restroom. Plaintiff communicated this to the general manager. The manager asserted no one should question Plaintiff's use of the bathroom because 'everyone has been notified' of the issue. The manager telling others about Plaintiff also exposed him to further mistreatment by others who may not have known he is transgender.
"During the 2017 clerk bathroom incident referenced above, Plaintiff also spoke to a union representative from Defendant ATU Local 241. The union representative did not materialize to any action by the union representative or Defendant ATU Local 241."
Later in the court filing, it states that "non-transgender employees and union members are not subject to a hostile work environment wherein incidents of discrimination, and harassment routinely and continually go unaddressed. As such, Defendants improperly deny equal terms, conditions and privileges of employment to transfer employees, like Plaintiff, and violated Plaintiff's civil rights to be free from discrimination."
The court filing also includes an alleged negative interaction with ATU Local 241 President Keith Hill after Brown's transfer to the 77th Street station. Brown told Windy City Times that, "After I clocked in and I walked up to him, … he looked at me and said, 'All that bitching you've been doing up north is not going to cut it. You're out south now,' It was strange for him to just say that … I thought he was upset for me involving the ACLU to change the policy."
Moreover, the court filing states that an unofficial, closed ATU Local 241 Facebook page that has deliberately excluded certain members of the union, including Brown after Hill was made aware of the complaint against the union, from being a member. Brown told Windy City Times that he was made aware of a live Q&A Hill hosted on that Facebook page from a co-worker after the fact who encouraged him to watch a certain part of the video (this video was included during the discovery process, not the court filing).
In the video, an employee asked about the quality of CTA's health insurance policy. Hill's response was "People complain about our health insurance. I can't say this the way I want to say it on Live because I don't want it coming back to, uh—you can get a whole sex change on our health insurance."
Regarding Brown's discrimination and harassment claims, the court filing states, "In 2018, Plaintiff filed a charge of discrimination with CTA's EEO department after he experienced harassment, including death threats, by coworkers. Plaintiff was told by Defendant CTA that his union would have to address the matter of the harassment and death threats of other union members. Pursuant to this, Plaintiff also reported the harassment and threats to Defendant ATU Local 241. While both Defendants were aware of the harassment and death threats, no action was taken by either to address it."
CTA management has alleged that Brown falsified a leave of absence request under the FMLA due to his ongoing back issues, which he disputes in the court filing. Brown told Windy City Times that he was provisionally approved for this leave but CTA management required him to get a second and third opinion from a physician they selected for him. He added that he was never told the results of the second doctors' opinion, nor scheduled for a third opinion. It was during this time that Brown was fired as a result of not seeing that third doctor.
Brown also alleges in the court filing that after he was charged with falsifying his FMLA leave of absence forms by CTA management, but before he was fired, he reached out to ATU Local 241 for assistance in this matter. He was told by the union that they could not help him and he should "accept the FMLA falsification charge brought by Defendant CTA."
Further, Brown also alleges in the court filing that he was written up and suspended for alleged actions and statements he did that "other similarly situated employees" allegedly committed and were not subject to any disciplinary actions.
When Windy City Times reached out to the CTA via email regarding Brown's allegations against them, a CTA Media Relations representative said, "The CTA denies taking any action against Russia Brown based on their gender identity or any other protected status. The CTA is vigorously defending the lawsuit. Beyond that, we do not comment on pending litigation."
ATU Local 241's attorney Ronald Willis of the law firm of Dowd, Bloch, Bennett, Cervone, Auerbach and Yokich, LLP sent this response to Windy City Times when queried about Brown's allegations against the union and Hill specifically.
"Labor unions are unfortunately, but commonly, subject to lawsuits filed by disgruntled members who have been fired by their employers and feel their union should have done something more to represent them. The allegations in such suits are not facts. Local 241 categorically denies that the union or President Hill discriminated against Mr. Brown in any way. Local 241 also denies that any remarks made by President Hill were or were intended to be discriminatory or that he possesses animus against transgender people. It was, of course, the CTA who terminated Mr. Brown. Local 241, by contrast, and as a matter of fact, has acted to protect Mr. Brown by filing a grievance challenging Mr. Brown's termination. Local 241 and President Hill continue to prosecute that grievance consistent with the union's usual procedures, including by demanding impartial, binding arbitration."
"What happened to me made me see the importance of people standing up for themselves," said Brown in an email statement to Windy City Times. "Getting terminated for supposedly violating a policy, while others were violating that policy and not getting fired, and while the CTA and the union were both violating policies with respect to me, made me want to fight back and expose the discrimination and abuses of power that favor some people and not others. I believe that when policies are made about people like me, then someone like me should be at the table."
See www.windycitytimes.com/lgbt/CTA-agrees-to-pay-for-transgender-mans-surgery/64940.html for more background on Brown's previous case against the CTA.
