Sexual harassment and discrimination allegations leveled at Muni transit chief

John Haley, director of transit, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency John Haley, director of transit, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Photo: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Photo: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Sexual harassment and discrimination allegations leveled at Muni transit chief 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

An assistant to Muni transit director John Haley has accused him of sexually harassing and racially discriminating against her.

In a lawsuit filed last week, Sabrina Suzuki, a senior management assistant at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, accused Haley of inappropriate touching, making sexual comments about women’s looks and making belittling remarks about Suzuki’s skills between 2015 and 2017. The allegations were made in a lawsuit filed last Friday in San Francisco County Superior Court.

Haley, who was hired as director of transit of Muni in 2010 and runs the agency’s bus, light rail, street-car and cable-car systems, referred requests for comment to the San Francisco city attorney’s office.

“We have not been served with the lawsuit, so we’re not going to discuss its contents,” said John Coté, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office. “Once we are served with it, we’ll review it and respond in court.”

Paul Rose, spokesman for the transit agency, said in an email, “We take these matters very seriously and follow the city’s ... procedures to address personnel matters like these. While these allegations are serious, it would not be appropriate to comment any further on legal matters involving personnel.”

In November 2017, Suzuki filed a discrimination complaint with the city’s department of human resources. According to the lawsuit, human resources dismissed her claims, concluding that there was not sufficient evidence.

Suzuki began working with the transit agency in 2013 as a public information officer and in 2015 began directly reporting to Haley. Her responsibilities included administrative work for the transit division.

In one incident in May 2016, Suzuki claims, Haley made comments about her pants and grabbed her thigh to prevent her from turning around so he could view her backside. Several times when Haley needed help with his computer, Suzuki says she stood over him as he remained seated and leaned in closer to her. On many occasions, the lawsuit alleges, Haley made comments to Suzuki about women’s looks, such as that a woman at a Christmas party was “spilling out of her dress” or that a woman wearing leggings looked good.

In addition to sexual harassment claims, the lawsuit details situations in which Suzuki says Haley prevented her from receiving additional training for her position and denied several promotions that she applied for. When Suzuki asked about being promoted to a transit regulatory manager position, she claims that Haley said she was “too nice” to manage a section and gave the position to a man. The lawsuit claims that Haley has a history of promoting only white employees. Suzuki is Asian and one of Haley’s two nonwhite employees.

Suzuki’s attorney, Ayse Kuzucuoglu, did not respond to a request for comment.

Ashley McBride is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ashley.mcbride@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ashleynmcb