Hey, there! Log in / Register

Former T administrator will get to make case in court he was let go for exposing fraud, dangerous conditions

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that Stephen Trychon, let go from his MBTA job in 2013, is protected by the state whistleblower law and will get a chance to pursue his lawsuit alleging higher ups forced him out after he annoyed other, politically connected T officials and workers by exposing risky working conditions, possible contract fraud and dangerous track conditions that had gone unfixed for six years.

The decision reverses a Superior Court judge's ruling to dismiss the suit because the T had the right to lay Trychon off.

The appeals court, however, said that T officials - all the way up to acting T General Manager Jonathan Davis and state Transportation Secretary Richard Davey - had reason to want to squelch Trychon's repeated efforts to investigate problems with certain procurement contracts, to get certain T workers to wear protective eyewear and to get the T to fix dangerous subway tracks, and that he is entitled to press his claim under a law protecting whistleblowers from retaliation by employees, specifically, "disclosures (or threatened disclosures) to a supervisor of and objections to an employer's activity, policy, or practice that the employee reasonably believes violates the law or poses a risk for public health or safety." The court added:

One could reasonably infer that acting GM Davis did not appreciate Trychon's embarrassing disclosure of wrongdoing in a department that he personally had overseen, and that he wanted Trychon and his spotlight gone.

Trychon was director of system-wide maintenance and improvement when let go in 2013. Among the T officials with whom he allegedly feuded - Maintenance of Way Director Patrick Kineavy, whom the court notes is the brother of longtime Tom Menino aide Michael Kineavy. Trychon alleges that after he issued an order requiring some of Kineavy's workers to put on protective eyeware due to a high incidence of injuries, Kineavy refused to comply, allegedly going so far as to create 12 fake notices that workers were actually wearing the glasses.

According to the suit, at one point Kineavy threatened Trychon's assistant: "I am going to fix you once and for all -- and for good."

In August, 2012, [the assistant] sought in writing Kineavy's termination based upon Kineavy's verbal threat, failure to enforce the eyewear policy, fraudulent [time-card] reporting, and continued poor performance reviews. State Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey and acting GM Davis stepped in and created a new job for Kineavy with minimal responsibilities and better pay. They also switched Kineavy's reporting duties to Sean McCarthy, "an old South Boston buddy of [Kineavy]."

This, the court said, "plausibly suggested that [Kineavy and one of his assistants] had influence far higher than their subordinate positions in the organizational chart."

In short, for pleading purposes, the hostile acts and statements by Kineavy and [his aide], the unnatural protection afforded those individuals, and acting GM Davis's suppression of the official contract fraud investigation initiated because of Trychon permit a plausible inference that Trychon's protected activities played a substantial or motivating part in the decision to terminate him.

The court continued:

At the time of his discharge, Trychon's trajectory was on the rise. He had evidently proven himself to be an effective and dedicated public employee, saving taxpayers millions of dollars, identifying fraudulent contracts, and exposing alarming track conditions that posed a risk to public safety. He had been promoted twice, and the scope of his job responsibilities was expanding. Generally, unless adverse conditions require a different course of action, employers who follow sound business practice do not select employees with excellent performance records for termination. Likewise, employers who follow sound business practice do not ordinarily transfer, shield, or reward employees whose poor performance or wrongful acts warrant termination, as the MBTA allegedly did according to the complaint.

Trychon alleged adequate facts plausibly suggesting retaliatory animus harbored by MBTA management. The narrative of the complaint suggests a continuing pattern of opposition and hostility to Trychon, and to his mainstay Turcotte, over an extended period of time.

Topics: 
Free tagging: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon Complete Trychon ruling67.23 KB


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

...that it's a bit infuriating that it's probably true. Politically connected incompetents getting mad when someone actually competent comes along and starts asking them to actually do their job.

up
Voting closed 0

Sounds like a movie, but one we've seen a million times before.

up
Voting closed 0

Obviously the dude deserves some justice - sounds like he was one of the good ones, and typical MBTA corruption screwed him over - but good lord does that agency not need to be bleeding out money in legal battles and payouts right now.

Maybe they'll wise up and settle? Hell, maybe Baker can offer this dude an even better job, if he's willing to take it, and call it even? Win-win-win for everybody, maybe. Except the lawyers.

The old boys nepotism cronyism shit that goes on in this state blows my mind sometimes.

up
Voting closed 0

He wasn't one of the good guys, unfortunately. He was a classic micro manager about stuff he had limited knowledge about. Eyewear was never a real issue, and his "assistant" was a bull in a china shop, giving his own orders and talking down to people that he had no authority over.. It's more of a classic story of someone who worked for the state trying to get paid through lawyers after being fired because he couldn't do the job they he was given. Kineavy's brother working for Menino seems like a pretty convenient thing to point to right now when the T is being spanked by a republican governor and is taking hits in the media. A city level gopher is dictating the decisions in a state level agency?! Come on. Seems to me like just one more of the greedy managers that wreck it for everyone and rarely get held accountable for the decisions made at that level trying to put his hand in the pocket of taxpayers.

up
Voting closed 0

Hello, Mr. Kineavy.

up
Voting closed 0

Do you now or have you ever worked for the T?

up
Voting closed 0

You are making statements as if you had first hand knowledge - not something you were told but information from direct observations and/or what you heard being said those directly involved.

Again please respond.

up
Voting closed 0

You are making statements as if you had first hand knowledge - not something you were told but information from direct observations and/or what you heard being said those directly involved.

Again please respond.

up
Voting closed 0

It doesn't make much difference where his info comes from. All the appeals court is saying is that this person has a right to file a lawsuit. The other side of the story hasn't come out yet.

Maybe this anon has inside info, maybe this is a dishonest whisper campaign. That is the chance you take when you read an online forum.

It just seems to me when you pressure someone to give more id, you just want to find away to discount their statements or disqualify them from having an opinion.

up
Voting closed 0

Mr. Tychon should be paid for all his aggravation handsomely. However, with the stipulation that he be given a 15 year contract as GM and have at it at the MBTA. God Bless him. Start contracting out all MBTA jobs and stop hiring anyone with a Southie connection. They only have themselves to blame.

up
Voting closed 0

There's either more to the story, or this guy needs to be brought back and put in charge of the T, stat!

up
Voting closed 0

News article about t managers and perks for vehicles... ask mr trychon about the investigator and the documentation and photos of him taking the mass taxpayers money company car out of state to his winter Vermont home

up
Voting closed 0

Demote, demean, fire and lay off workers who expose fraud and corruption, promote those who do nothing but do it well.

up
Voting closed 0

But we should throw more money at this agency so they can fix the crumbling public transit system. Right.

up
Voting closed 0

Trychon is a hero of the state and this Great City.
His actions could have prevented great loss of life both the Travelling public and public servants. And saved us taxpayers millions of dollars.
I am even recommended we rename a train station after him. Who deserves tremendous accommodation. I believe that all the administrators involved should be brought to court held on criminal charges for attempted mass murder of the Travelling public

up
Voting closed 0