WMATA issues investigative report on working conditions

[Editor’s note: This article was updated on Dec. 14 to include facts from the WMATA investigation memorandum, and comments from the Washington Metro Safety Commission.]

Assertions of racial discrimination and sexual harassment by senior rail officials at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC), made in a Washington Metro Safety Commission (WMSC) audit report earlier this year, are unsubstantiated, an independent investigation found. 

WMATA published the results of three-month investigation by the law firm Littler Mendelson PC into complaints made in the WMSC audit issued in September. 

Allegations in the report included: 

• ROCC leadership fostered a "toxic" culture that is antithetical to safety and other standards.
• WMATA’s Senior Vice President for Rail Services Lisa Woodruff told rail controllers not to talk to the WMSC, to resist corrective actions, and to paint a rosy picture of the ROCC for an internal WMATA transformation team. 
• ROCC managers engage in racial, sexual and other forms of harassment. 
• ROCC managers use profanities and threats against controllers. 
• ROCC management threatened controllers with arrest or termination for following procedures or asking questions. 
• Significant turnover of controllers in the ROCC. 
• Instances of unwanted physical contact.

The investigation and review of the WMSC report found that disrespectful and unprofessional conduct is commonplace in the ROCC. The report also found that control center employees at all levels perceive that coworkers and supervisors in the ROCC are treating them improperly, or that there is a culture of favoritism, according to the investigation memorandum.

The employees reported observing conduct that a person could perceive as sexual harassment, the use of profanities, and hearing racial and homophobic comments.

However, the investigation could not substantiate allegations in the WMSC report of racial discrimination, nor that the unprofessional conduct stemmed from high-level managers or that high-level managers condoned this behavior. 

Littler could also not substantiate that Woodruff and/or former ROCC Director Deltrin Harris engaged in harassing conduct targeted at ROCC controllers or were responsible for the “deep-seated toxic workplace culture” in the ROCC, as outlined by the WMSC. 

The investigation also could not substantiate the allegation that Woodruff or Harris interfered with WMSC investigations.

"While this bell cannot be unrung, the record must be set straight to restore the good names of transit professionals whose reputations were unfairly tarnished," said General Manager Paul Wiedefeld in a press release.

WMSC asserts that the investigation was based on some incorrect assumptions regarding events described in the WMSC audit report, and also did not examine the same time prior that WMSC reviewed, WMSC officials said in an email.

“The WMSC stands by our thoroughly investigated and deeply researched Rail Operations Control Center audit report, which was based on detailed document reviews, audio and other data recordings, in-person and off-site interviews of 21 of 26 controllers and other reliable information,” said WMSC Chief Executive Officer David Mayer.

Following the audit, WMATA Board Chair Paul Smedberg and Wiedefeld committed to an overhaul of the rail control center, which is ongoing and includes improvements to training, procedures and processes, staffing and supervision.

The Littler investigation report confirms the importance of culture change at the ROCC to improve professionalism among controllers, and frontline and mid-level management; as well as training to help controllers cope with safety-sensitive duties and a stressful work environment, WMATA officials said.