Arroyo v. Chicago Transit Authority

916 N.E.2d 34, 334 Ill. Dec. 1, 394 Ill. App. 3d 822, 29 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1617, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 880
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 8, 2009
Docket1-08-2441, 1-08-2482 cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 916 N.E.2d 34 (Arroyo v. Chicago Transit Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arroyo v. Chicago Transit Authority, 916 N.E.2d 34, 334 Ill. Dec. 1, 394 Ill. App. 3d 822, 29 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1617, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 880 (Ill. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE CUNNINGHAM

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following an internal investigation into allegations of employee misconduct, the defendant, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), terminated the plaintiffs, Michael Arroyo and Carl Horhach. Subsequently, a joint hearing was held for both plaintiffs under section 28 of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act (Act) (70 ILCS 3605/28 (West 2006)), after which the CTA Transit Board (the Board) upheld the plaintiffs’ terminations. Under a petition for common law writ of certiorari, the circuit court of Cook County affirmed the Board’s decisions to discharge the plaintiffs. On appeal, the plaintiffs argue that: (1) the Board’s findings were against the manifest weight of the evidence; and (2) the Board’s decisions to discharge the plaintiffs were excessive, arbitrary and unreasonable. For the following reasons, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

The plaintiffs were employed as quality improvement technicians (technicians) at CTA during all the relevant periods of time. As technicians, the plaintiffs were required to inspect and perform maintenance work at various CTA rail and bus terminals. The plaintiffs were assigned to work at different field locations during each workday and were typically required to travel to a maximum of three rail terminals during an eight-hour work period. Traveling employees, such as technicians, were authorized to use their personal vehicles for completing field assignments and could seek mileage expenditure reimbursements from CTA for any “chargeable mileage.” 1 Any requests for mileage reimbursements must be completed on mileage record sheets and submitted by employees to their managers for approval.

In April 2005, Michael Bobko, a criminal investigator in the CTA’s office of the inspector general (OIG), investigated accusations made in an anonymous complaint that six technicians, including the plaintiffs, were abusing CTA time, routinely failing to work full eight-hour days and exaggerating their mileage reimbursement claims. As part of Bobko’s preliminary investigation, he reviewed the plaintiffs’ January 2005 and February 2005 mileage records. The mileage records included information such as field work locations; arrival and departure times; odometer readings; chargeable and nonchargeable mileage; the nature of the assignment; and the total amount for reimbursements. Bobko discovered that the plaintiffs’ odometer readings were always consecutive, without any breaks in the numbering to reflect night and weekend uses of their vehicles when the plaintiffs were not at work. Bobko suspected that the mileage records were fabricated. Further examination revealed that plaintiff Horbach frequently started or stopped his workday at one of two rail locations closest to his home, regardless of whether those locations were assigned work locations, thus allowing him to recoup five extra reimbursable miles. He would then spend the rest of the day driving long distances to different work locations, all of which was chargeable mileage. This resulted in nearly complete mileage reimbursement for each workday.

Consequently, Bobko presented the results of his preliminary investigation to Ralph Malee, general manager for CTA’s rail engineer and technical services. Malee confirmed that there were “unusual patterns” in the plaintiffs’ mileage records that warranted further investigation. Thereafter, Bobko reviewed two additional months of the plaintiffs’ mileage records, as well as logs of their CTA employee transit card swipe patterns. Bobko discovered multiple incidents in which the locations of the plaintiffs, as revealed by the transit card swipes, did not match the locations that the plaintiffs logged on the mileage records.

In April 2005, Malee conducted separate interviews with each plaintiff regarding the discrepancies in their records. Plaintiff Arroyo stated that he was unaware that he had to go to assigned locations and that one of the retired senior technicians informed him that he could travel to various locations. Arroyo asserted that he was instructed to record his mileage numbers consecutively. Arroyo attributed the discrepancies in his records to errors made on his mileage sheets, stated that he prepared his mileage sheets at the end of the month, and admitted that he “never kept accurate records.” Arroyo also stated that he may have left work early a few times a month without permission.

To account for the record discrepancies, Horbach admitted to Malee that he “kept poor records” of his mileage logs, which he created at the end of each month, and noted that he did not always swipe his CTA transit card while present at certain stations. However, he asserted that he was told to keep a “running log” of the vehicle mileage used in the course of his field work. Horbach also maintained that his mileage records reflected where he actually traveled and that scheduling changes accounted for part of the confusion in the recordkeeping. The plaintiffs were then suspended without pay pending further investigation.

In May 2005, Malee conducted a second interview with each plaintiff separately. In Arroyo’s follow-up interview, Malee stated that he reviewed a total of six months of records and that “there were 36 different entries of fraudulent mileage totaling [$272.25].” Arroyo admitted that the records reviewed by Malee accurately showed that Arroyo left work early on nine occasions in January 2005. He did not recall going to all of his monthly field assignments, but he stated that it did not matter as long as he went to work at another CTA shop.

During Horbach’s follow-up interview, Malee informed him that a review of several additional months of records revealed that Horbach sought mileage reimbursements totaling $489.32 for 57 trips he allegedly made to the 98th Street garage. Although Malee stated that no managers or repairers recalled seeing Horbach at the 98th Street garage on those occasions, Horbach maintained that he was present and had parked his car and ridden the train from the 98th Street garage on those days.

On May 31, 2005, in two separate memoranda written to the vice president of rail operations, Malee recommended that the plaintiffs be discharged on various grounds. The bases for Arroyo’s discharge included his repeatedly leaving work early without permission; fraudulently claiming mileage reimbursements from CTA; changing work assignments without permission; and failing to be at assigned field locations. Malee also recommended that Horbach be discharged for falsifying his mileage records; abusing company time; changing work assignments and leaving work without permission; and failing to be at his assigned field locations. Malee noted that the plaintiffs violated CTA Rules 7, 14, 18 and 24. 2 In June 2005, notices of discharge were sent to the plaintiffs, which effectively terminated their employment with CTA.

From August to December 2005, a joint hearing was held before the Board under section 28 of the Act (70 ILCS 3605/28 (West 2006)). The plaintiffs were each represented by counsel. At the hearing, CTA presented the testimony of three witnesses.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Peace v. City of Chicago Department of Administrative Hearings
2020 IL App (1st) 191209-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)
Grady v. Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University
78 F. Supp. 3d 768 (N.D. Illinois, 2015)
Blackout Sealcoating, Incorpor v. Terry Peterson
733 F.3d 688 (Seventh Circuit, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
916 N.E.2d 34, 334 Ill. Dec. 1, 394 Ill. App. 3d 822, 29 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 1617, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 880, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arroyo-v-chicago-transit-authority-illappct-2009.