A Black woman is suing the city of Chicago and a co-worker in its transportation department who she said hurled racial slurs and gender insults at her and assaulted her, including while she was pregnant.
In her lawsuit filed on May 13 in U.S. District Court in Illinois and obtained by Atlanta Black Star, Danyiell Montgomery says she was content in her job as a concrete worker for the Chicago DOT, where she’d worked mostly among men for seven years, until April 2023 when she transferred to a new department.
She informed her new supervisors that she was pregnant, and would need time off for a surgical procedure related to her pregnancy. She had the procedure on May 1, 2023, and was off for one day.
Upon her return, Montgomery requested light duty work for a temporary period as she recovered from her surgery and as an accommodation for her pregnancy.
That request subjected her to ridicule, harassment and discriminatory treatment from her male co-workers, she claims.
Raul Ramirez, her supervisor, asked her why she was working there since she was pregnant, she says.
Other co-workers made the following comments to her in front of management, according to her complaint:
“We don’t need no lazy woman here. Get her out of here.”
“Black women and their f—king attitudes.”
“Why the f—k is she still here?”
“We don’t need any disable[d] mother f—kers working here and not contributing to the work site.”
Then her supervisor Ruben Ochoa told her he did not want her doing any more concrete work “because of her condition” and demanded that she find another assignment.
Montgomery contends her doctor did not restrict her from doing concrete work altogether, only while she recovered from her surgical procedure.
On May 15, 2023, as she walked to her car during a group lunch break, she says Michael Bailey a co-worker, followed her, then proceeded to bang on her car window and asked, “What the f—k are you doing? You just had a break. Get out of that car and grade some dirt.”
Bailey continued harassing her, in view of other co-workers and supervisors, allegedly telling her, “Don’t you have a husband or something? I don’t want you here. Black women and their f—king attitudes. All you Black motherf—kers and your attitudes.”
He then allegedly “showed his gun to her in a threatening manner” and said, “That’s why I keep my gun on me at work. I have to work around all these ni—ers coming up and thinking they’re privileged. I’m from Bridgeport and we’re doctors and lawyers. I know judges, police officers and detectives, so nothing is going to happen to me.”
Montgomery says she feared for her safety and felt extreme distress and mental anguish over Bailey’s conduct and reported it to a local law enforcement agency.
“I would walk out of my house crying with headaches every day,” she told CBS Chicago. My chest was tightened. At the time I think I was 11 weeks pregnant.”
On May 16, 2023 Montgomery began working at a new job site, where her duties included picking up stakes, sweeping up debris, moving barricades and placing caution tape around newly poured cement areas. She says she asked her new supervisor Mike Devito if she could continue with the light duty work she’d been assigned since early May.
She also told another supervisor, Chris Davis, about the incident involving Bailey brandishing his gun at her while on work property, and that she wanted to submit a formal report to Chicago DOT.
Davis allegedly handed her a blank sheet of notebook paper, instead of the official form used to report such complaints.
Despite this impropriety, Montgomery says she filled the sheet out and gave it to Miram Velez, a labor relations specialist at Chicago DOT, who provided her with the appropriate form to make a complaint. Montgomery did so, emphasizing the gun incident and Bailey’s harassment and threats.
According to her complaint, the department failed to investigate or take any action to protect her safety or to address the hostile work environment. She continued to be required to work in crews that included Bailey, who kept making harassing and disparaging remarks to her regarding her race, gender and pregnancy.
The continuous harassment caused her distress, took a toll on her health and threatened the safety of her pregnancy, she claims, forcing her to take a leave of absence. She remained off work from May 28, 2023, through Nov. 22, 2023, during which time she gave birth to a healthy baby.
When she returned to work, she was assigned to a new crew that included Bailey. On her first day back, as she pulled up to the job site, she says she heard Bailey tell Devito on a speakerphone, “Bring that Black bi—h here. She has no authority to request a transfer.”
Since that day the work environment has remained hostile for Montgomery, who continues working at Chicago DOT, the lawsuit says. Her supervisors and the department are aware of the “severe and pervasive harassment” she has faced, but have failed to intervene.
Her lawsuit accuses the city of Chicago and Bailey with disparate treatment, harassment and hostile work environment because of her race, color, sex and pregnancy, in violation of federal civil rights law and the Americans With Disabilities Act.
It also alleges that the city of Chicago negligently supervised Bailey despite knowing of his unfitness for his position in the department and his history of aggressive and harassing behavior toward Montgomery, including threatening her with his gun.
The city and Bailey violated the Illinois Whistleblower Act and federal civil rights law, the lawsuit says, by retaliating against her when she complained about harassment from co-workers.
The retaliation occurred when they denied her light duty request; caused her to go on a leave of absence after subjecting her to a hostile working environment that threatened to cause a miscarriage; forced her to work without pay for six months; and “forced her to continue working under her abuser.”
Montgomery seeks a jury trial to determine compensation for lost income and benefits, and compensatory damages for emotional distress, mental anguish, physical harm and humiliation, and well as punitive damages to punish the defendants for their “willfully unlawful actions.”
“Some change needs to happen, some different policies need to happen, because no one should endure what I went through,” Montgomery told ABC7 Chicago. “You come to work to work, not to go through things.”
On Wednesday CDOT said in a statement: “While we cannot comment on pending litigation, the Chicago Department of Transportation takes any claims of discrimination and harassment seriously.”
The Chicago Department of Transportation has 21 days, or until June 3, to file a legal response.
