Former Capital Area Transit System CEO William Deville has filed a federal lawsuit against the system, alleging age and disability discrimination, breach of contract and retaliation for opposing the system’s violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The CATS board fired Deville in June of last year, following a series of controversies that led the board to, in the previous April, strip him of his title and duties but keep him under contract.
Deville’s allegations include:
- He was threatened with termination because he refused to fire a comptroller who had failed a drug test. Deville says the employee was taking legal medication necessary to address a condition protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Comptroller John Cutrone was fired after Deville left, sued CATS and won a settlement. In a post-settlement statement, CATS acknowledged Cutrone was taking a prescribed medication but said that was not why he was fired.
- CATS disregarded his disability while he was on leave under the Family Medical Leave Act for a medical condition.
- Former board President Kahli Cohran pushed him to retire, “specifically targeting his age of 75.” A public agenda for a CATS board meeting referenced a discussion of his “physical or mental health,” which Deville says was meant to raise negative connotations about his age.
- CATS breached its contract with him by terminating him without cause and without proper notice, not providing agreed-upon annual performance reviews, and failing to pay deferred compensation the contract called for.
Deville is seeking back pay and damages of at least $800,000.
Cohran says he has only been able to skim Deville’s filing but says it includes mischaracterizations and outright lies.
“It’s unfortunate that he would go out on that note, rather than take a more positive note in his career,” Cohran says. “That’s the direction I was desiring to go with him.”
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made an initial investigation into Deville’s claims but did not establish that violations had occurred. That does not mean the claims lack merit, as the EEOC’s letter to Deville (included as an exhibit in his lawsuit) states, but it does clear the way for him to file his own suit.
CATS interim CEO Theo Richard deferred comment to the system’s attorney, who did not respond in time for publication.
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