Senior Detroit Department of Transportation officials abused their authority by shielding employees who disrupted bus service by having “a romantic interaction,” abandoned a running city bus, and violated workplace rules, a Detroit Office of Inspector General investigation found.
The findings are detailed in a final OIG report that describes “employee misconduct and lapses in disciplinary accountability” inside DDOT’s Operations Division, including failures by top supervisors to properly investigate or discipline serious violations.
The investigation began after an anonymous complaint alleged that Senior Transportation Service Inspector Andre Reece and bus driver Dayna Ruff engaged in “inappropriate intimate behavior,” falsely reported mechanical problems, and left a bus running and unattended, causing major service delays.
Investigators substantiated the allegations, saying the “romantic interaction” resulted in “a 115 minute disruption of services and a waste of City resources” on May 6. Two weeks later, the pair again met repeatedly along Ruff’s route and abandoned a running bus, prompting additional delays.
Despite classifying the conduct as a Class IV offense, which is the most serious category under DDOT’s disciplinary system, Superintendent of Operations Howard Bragg III issued only five-day suspensions. Under the department’s 2008 employee handbook, the penalty for a Class IV offense “shall, in absence of substantial mitigating circumstances, be a thirty (30) day suspension, pending discharge,” the report states.
The OIG found no evidence that either employee requested a hearing or that any mitigating circumstances were formally considered, as required by policy.
The report further concluded that Bragg failed to conduct a proper investigation before issuing discipline, despite the availability of surveillance video that documented the misconduct.
“Superintendent Bragg did not seek out or request the video evidence from DDOT Safety,” the report states. “Therefore, he failed to conduct a thorough and proper investigation of the complaint before issuing discipline.”
Assistant Director of Operations Andre Mallett was also cited for abusing his authority by allowing the lenient discipline to stand even after learning that additional video evidence substantiated the complaint.
The OIG also found that Reece and Ruff failed to disclose their romantic relationship, as required by a city executive order governing supervisor-subordinate relationships, and that DDOT and human resources officials failed to properly review or complete the required disclosure forms.
Beyond that case, the report describes broader systemic problems inside DDOT, concluding that “disciplinary practices employed by DDOT’s Operations Management Team are not compliant or consistent with the disciplinary policies mandated by the 2008 DDOT Employee Handbook.”
The findings are especially troubling in a city like Detroit, where roughly one-third of residents do not have access to a car and rely heavily on DDOT buses to get to work, school, medical appointments, and childcare. Service disruptions of more than an hour can have cascading consequences for riders who already face chronic delays.
In response to the OIG’s draft report, Bragg and Mallett argued that human resources officials advised that discharge was not warranted and that re-issuing discipline would violate procedural fairness. The OIG rejected those claims, finding that required video evidence was available at the time and that the handbook’s mandatory penalties were ignored without justification.
The OIG recommended additional discipline for Reece and Ruff, punishment for Bragg and Mallett, and significant reforms to ensure future investigations are thorough, transparent, and consistent with written policy.
“DDOT should create a system of procedures to allow more oversight over the review and issuing of discipline to ensure the discipline is proportionate to the offense and that all policies are followed,” the report concludes.
Related
Steve Neavling
Source link
