Former halfway house worker wins bias claim
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A black former state halfway house monitor who was fired for sleeping on the job won a $250,000 verdict Friday following a four-day civil trial at which he argued that he was terminated unfairly, while a white co-worker's snoozing was tolerated.
Thomas McClain of Wilkins is also in line to get around $150,000 in back pay, in addition to the $250,000 award, and has the option of returning to work at the Riverside Community Corrections Center, said his attorney, Sam Cordes, shortly after an eight-member jury handed down the verdict.
Mr. McClain started with the Department of Corrections in 1993 and worked night shift at the halfway house, which is next to the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh. In July 2007, he was caught lying on a couch, accused of sleeping and suspended for three days. A year later, he nodded off in a chair and was fired.
Mr. Cordes told the jury that the discipline contrasted with the department's handling of former monitor Roy Wyland. Mr. Wyland, who is white, worked the same shift as Mr. McClain and was disciplined repeatedly for offenses, including leaving his post without permission.
In early 2008, the department showed a union official a videotape of Mr. Wyland apparently sleeping, but the department took no disciplinary action, Mr. Cordes said.
"Both were caught sleeping at work," Mr. Cordes said. "They fired the black guy. They did not even discipline the white guy."
Scott A. Bradley, an attorney representing the Department of Corrections, said Mr. McClain was fired for violating department rules. He appeared to sleep, and then he lied by denying it.
"Mr. McClain's race was never a consideration or concern in any decision they made," he said.
Mr. Wyland, he said, retired before the department could initiate discipline for sleeping.
U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti will set a hearing to decide back pay and other outstanding issues, Mr. Cordes said.
First Published February 11, 2012 12:00 am
