Tri-Cities transit sued for discrimination. Director was fired after reporting incidents

A former transportation director at Ben Franklin Transit in the Tri-Cities, Wash., is suing the agency for discrimination after he was fired.

Ayodeji Arojo was a finalist in an initial round of interviews for the agency’s top job, general manager, before he was fired by the person selected for the job, Rachelle Glazier, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court.

Arojo, who is Black, alleges that he was not promoted to general manager and was fired because he is dark skinned and foreign born. He is a native of Nigeria.

Arojo began working for Ben Franklin Transit in Richland as director of transit operations at the start of 2020, after holding the same position at Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

He was paid $121,000 a year initially in the Tri-Cities, but his pay was raised to nearly $158,00 two years later after two positive performance evaluations by the previous general manager of the transit, Gloria Boyce, according to a court document.

He was praised for navigating change during the pandemic, his analytic and problem-solving ability, sound judgment, keeping his department within budget and successful negotiations for new labor contracts.

Arojo’s attorney, Adam Pechtel of Kennewick, detailed two incidents in court documents to show discrimination.

1st alleged discrimination incident

In November 2021, the director then of human resources told Arojo that “people of his color have a tendency to demean women,” according to court documents.

Arojo reported the remark, which he found to be an offensive racial stereotype, to Boyce.

The investigator’s report concluded that the former human resources director exercised “poor judgment” and her comments were “stereotypes and microaggressions at worst.”

The former human resources director then filed a complaint against Arojo.

An investigator concluded in July 2022 that the complaint was “strictly out of retaliation of her discontent with him” and for filing the claim against her, according to court documents.

By then Boyce had retired, and Arojo’s attorney said there was no disciplinary action for the former human resources director.

In the meantime, Arojo had applied for the open general manager position and was one of four finalists for the position interviewed in May 2022.

However, a hiring committee did not want any of the four candidates hired. It asked Prothman, an executive recruitment service hired by the transit, to find additional candidates.

Glazier who had applied, but withdrew her application a month before interviews were conducted, said she was interested in the position after all then. She was hired in June.

2nd alleged discrimination incident

The second incident described by Pechtel in court documents occurred in late July or early August 2022 when an employee who reported to Arojo called him stupid and ignorant and used racially offensive names during a meeting, according to a court document.

Arojo reported his employee to Glazier, and a decision was made to fire the worker, according to a court document.

On Sept. 1, 2022, Arojo also was fired, and his employee who had been fired was allowed to return to work, according to a court document.

There was no evidence that the employee was disciplined for racially offensive language, according to Arojo’s attorney.

The two incidents show “a pattern of tolerance and support for racial discrimination” at the transit and discourages other employees from reporting discrimination and retaliation, according to the lawsuit.

Arojo was not given any reason for being fired, nor did Glazier coach him on any performance issues or give him any warnings before he was fired, according to the lawsuit.

When Arojo asked for a written account of the reasons he was fired, the lawsuit said he received information two weeks later that listed:

▪ Lack of oversight in operational planning needs.

▪ Conduct that created a perception of conflict of interest.

▪ Lack of credibility in explaining reasons for actions challenged as unlawful by the union.

▪ Lack of trust and respect from his workers.

▪ Not taking ownership of decision making.

Arojo’s attorney called the reasons vague.

“General Manager Glazier’s ostensible reasons for terminating Mr. Arojo’s employment have no basis in fact and were a pretextual justification to terminate Mr. Arojo because of his race, color, national origin and/or opposition to race discrimination and/or opposition to retaliation,” the lawsuit said.

Arojo is asking that U.S. Judge Alexander Ekstrom award him lost wages and benefits plus interest, damages for emotional harm, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees and costs of the lawsuit.