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Drug Tests Tightened on MBTA Red Line

Posted on: Friday, 29 July 2005, 00:00 CDT

Jul. 28--The MBTA quietly tightened its drug-test policy on the Red Line shortly after a T worker testified recently that a supervisor, in exchange for oral sex, twice tipped off a motorwoman that she was about to be screened.

William F. Devlin, a night supervisor on the subway line, warned motorwoman Dawn MacKay, who allegedly abused cocaine, two times between 2000 and 2003 that she had been randomly selected for urinalysis and should call in sick if she had recently used drugs, a Red Line inspector testified in Dorchester District Court in May.

"Supervisor Devlin would call her and ask her if she was clean or dirty, and she would have to do sexual favors to avoid a random," the inspector, Kathleen A. Flynn, testified. On both occasions, Flynn said, MacKay heeded the advice.

Though he was never asked directly whether it was true, Devlin denied the allegation in court and said he seldom checked the list of upcoming drug tests.

After the hearing, the Red Line shortened the notice a supervisor gets before an employee goes for a drug test, according to T spokesman Joe Pesaturo. Pesaturo last week called it a "pilot program," but did not say how long it would last or why it was implemented on only the Red Line.

Under the new program, instead of learning at the start of his or her shift about which employees are to be tested, a Red Line supervisor now gets notification in a sealed envelope with instructions on the outside specifying when to open it, Pesaturo said. Once opened, the notice provides just enough time for a supervisor to find someone to fill in for the employee, who is expected to head to the clinic to provide a urine sample, he said.

The MBTA found no evidence to substantiate Flynn's allegation that Devlin alerted MacKay to impending drug tests, Pesaturo said. A statistical analysis showed the Red Line had the lowest percentage of missed random drug tests of the authority's four subway lines since 2001, he said.

Nonetheless, "the MBTA felt it was important to further strengthen the integrity of the process," Pesaturo said.

Pesaturo insisted on answering questions only by e-mail. Asked if MBTA General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas would agree to an interview to discuss the issue, Pesaturo wrote that the T was not going to "lend credibility to your nonsense by having the general manager respond to hearsay and innuendo."

Pesaturo subsequently wrote that the T would welcome independent scrutiny of its drug testing program and released a statement saying that the authority was limited in what it could say because of pending litigation involving witnesses in the Dorchester District Court hearing.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority tests employees for drugs and alcohol under federal requirements. But the testing program, which has evolved over the years, has sometimes stirred controversy. A 1999 Globe investigation found that the T applied its testing policy inconsistently, resulting in the continued employment of workers who tested positive for alcohol or illegal substances.

Flynn made her allegations at a court hearing about an alleged assault on MacKay by her estranged boyfriend, an MBTA motorman named Craig Whiteman, on a train MacKay was operating in May 2003. Flynn testified as a defense witness that the MBTA police investigation of the alleged assault was tainted because of MacKay's relationship with Devlin. Devlin, who Flynn said was close to an MBTA detective, suspended Whiteman after the incident.

The charges against Whiteman were dismissed after the hearing because MBTA police failed to turn over investigative documents.

Flynn, who described herself as a onetime close friend of MacKay's, said she based her allegations about the tip-offs to drug tests on conversations with MacKay. MacKay has declined repeated requests for comment.

But Paul McManus, a public defender representing Whiteman in the assault case, recently said he spoke with MacKay after the hearing and that she confirmed that Devlin gave her notice of impending drug tests in exchange for sexual favors.

MacKay was fired by the T last November after she tested positive for cocaine, Flynn testified.

Devlin, a 19-year T veteran, acknowledged on the witness stand in May that he had access to the list of Red Line employees scheduled for drug tests but said he seldom checked it.

Devlin testified that he knew that anybody who tipped off an employee about a drug test would "absolutely" be fired and probably prosecuted.

Neither McManus nor Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Carrie Russell directly asked Devlin whether Flynn's accusation was true. Devlin said he found the accusation troubling, but put it out of his mind because "allegations are made all the time in my position."

Devlin, reached this week, declined to comment.

He and another Red Line manager are defendants in a pending federal lawsuit by Flynn that alleges she was subjected to sexual harrassment and discrimination.

In brief testimony at the May hearing, the T's director of occupational health services, Kate LeGrow, said that about 4,900 of the T's 6,500 employees have "safety sensitive" jobs and are required to undergo drug tests.

When a worker's badge number is selected by computer, LeGrow said, the superintendent of the transit line would be notified, typically 18 to 24 hours in advance, to make sure that someone can cover for that worker.

The superintendent, in turn, would notify the supervisor up to eight hours before the test, usually at the start of the shift.

If an employee called in sick the day he or she was supposed to be tested, LeGrow said, the worker would not be tested until his or her badge number was drawn again.

Mac Daniel of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

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Source: The Boston Globe

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