Irish American man sues NYC Dept of Transport, alleges discrimination

Keith Lane, who is of Irish descent, is suing his former employer the New York City Department of Transporation (DOT) alleging, in part, that he was discriminated against because he is Irish and not Italian.

"The leadership of DOT was overwhelmingly Italian, with preferential treatment given to Italian employees of the NYC DOT by its Italian leadership," the lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York on December 15 alleges.

This "preferential treatment" for Italian employees, the lawsuit claims, included promotions, favorable transfers, granting extensions of time to return to work after injury or disability, better treatment in terms of wages, and special accommodations for injured and disabled workers.

Lane, along with an African American colleague filed a grievance with the DOT in 2018, which he claims was ignored. In June 2020, he was in a major motor vehicle accident while on the job that left him severely disabled. He claims he was not afforded "special accommodation" because he is not Italian.

Both the DOT and SEUI Local 246 Union are named in the lawsuit.

The DOT is accused in the lawsuit of failing to accommodate Lane as per the Rehabilitation Act.

Both the DOT and Local 246 are accused of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and discriminating against Lane on the basis of his age.

The fourth and final action of the lawsuit claims the DOT "engaged in national original discrimination and relation" in violation of the Civil Rights Act, New York Executive Law Section 296, and New York City Human Rights law.

"Plaintiff belongs to a protected class in that he is Irish," the lawsuit says.

It continues: "Plaintiff suffered adverse employment action as a result of being of Irish descent in terms of being denied full wages, being passed up for favorable 
transfer and promotions, being denied reasonable accommodations when 
rendered disabled, and then being replaced by an Italian worker."

The lawsuit says Lane "engaged in protected activity when he filed a grievance about disparate treatment in 2018, before becoming disabled.

"DOT took adverse employment action against plaintiff as a result of that protected activity when refusing provide him with a reasonable accommodation 
after he became disabled, threatening him with termination if he didn’t agree to 
a forced retirement, vindictively cutting his wages and health insurance 
(including for his autistic son), and then replacing Lane with a less qualified 
Italian worker."

The DOT has "proximately caused injury" to Lane, the lawsuit alleges.

It continues: "Plaintiff has been injured in that he has been unable to retain his job and full wages, and has been continuously denied wages for years, has had to incur legal fees to sue for deprivation of his rights, and has suffered severe stress and emotional anguish as a result of defendants’ malicious conduct."

The lawsuit says Lane is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages, $1 million in punitive damages, and $1 million in emotional damages, as well as a trial by jury.

However, the city's Law Department told the New York Post that the DOT had no record of Lane requesting an accommodation or complaining of discrimination.

A Law Department spokesperson told the New York Post: “There is no room for bias of any kind in city agencies. We will carefully review these allegations."