A law firm hired by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for an independent investigation has concluded that reports of racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation by senior rail officials at the agency’s Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC) were unsubstantiated.
The three-month investigation, which was conducted by San Francisco-based Littler Mendelson, P.C., centered around the claims brought up in September 2020 by the Washington Metro Safety Commission (WMSC) Final Audit.
“This report exonerates Lisa Woodruff and Deltrin Harris of the charges contained in the WMSC report and repeated in dozens of media accounts,” said General Manager Paul Wiedefeld in a statement on Friday. “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.”
Metro releases independent investigation into ROCC claims by oversight body https://t.co/hOYpWKSh3A #wmata
— Metro (@wmata) December 11, 2020
The rail control center is currently being revised in terms of training, staffing, supervision, and other areas as a result of the WMSC Audit.
WMATA Board Chair Paul Smedberg, who initiated the revision along with Wiedefeld, praised the conclusions of the independent counsel, saying that Woodruff and Harris were “unjustly portrayed in WMSC’s report and subsequent news accounts.”
“We also note that the WMATA Inspector General reported to us his conclusion that there was no credible evidence that a ROCC supervisor was intoxicated while on duty, as reported by the WMSC,” Smedberg added.