Arbitrator: Transit manager fired for his race

DURHAM — The company that manages Durham's transit system unlawfully fired a former general manager in 2005 because he is white, possibly influenced by comments from Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole-McFadden, an arbitrator has ruled. MV Transportation was ordered to pay Thomas Hartley $172,844.

Hartley was fired in late summer 2005 a few months after Cole-McFadden said MV "needed some diversity in [its] management ranks," according to the arbitration award. At the time, all three top positions were filled by white men. Yolanda White, a black woman, was hired to replace Hartley, despite being under qualified.

"It is telling that Ms. White did not meet MV's own published qualifications for the job of general manager, as she lacked a college degree and prior relevant experience managing a contract," Arbitrator Jonathan Harkavy wrote. White was replaced last year as general manager.

"Instead of making a legitimate and measured business judgment about the qualifications of other potential applicants both inside and outside of MV, the skids were greased to ensure that Ms. White was the selectee."

Cole-McFadden, the former director of the city's Equal Opportunity/Equity Assurance department, frequently mentions during council meetings the need for a racially diverse staff.

Harkavy found that White was not even disciplined for failures more severe than the ones MV cited in firing Hartley. He noted that DATA failed to "make pull-out," i.e. get the full fleet out on the road, much more frequently under White than the one time it happened during Hartley's 16 months on the job.

"When Ms. White's financial performance fell below standard, she was not fired or even disciplined," Harkavy wrote.

"When Ms. White needed the assistance of corporate officials, that was not alleged to be a mark against her, as it was ... during Hartley's tenure. And when maintenance of the buses suffered during Ms. White's time in Durham, she was not fired or disciplined, in contrast to MV's allegations about Hartley. All this evidence of disparate treatment is a weighty indication of pretext for MV's racial motivation in replacing Hartley with a black manager."