Tollway whistle-blower demoted, lawsuit states

A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges the Illinois tollway wrongfully disciplined an employee after she reported suspected ethics violations involving a high-ranking official.

Mary Wright, former equal employment opportunity officer with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, was demoted, subjected to “petty harassment and suspended without pay, attorneys claim.

The suspension is tied to Wright's finding of evidence former Chief Procurement Officer Albert Murillo had a conflict of interest involving his relationship with a tollway contractor that merited further investigation, the lawsuit filed in DuPage County court states.

“As a policy, the tollway cannot comment on personnel issues, but what we can say is that we take these allegations very seriously and are conducting an internal investigation into this matter, Tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said via e-mail.

Murillo, who now is an acting state procurement officer with the state Executive Ethics Commission, did not wish to comment, McGinnis said. He did not return a phone call from the Daily Herald.

The state's Office of the Executive Inspector General is also looking into Wright's findings.

The tollway violated the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, Wright's attorney Shawn Collins said.

“She should not have been punished for what she did. We need people like Mary to do unflinching investigations in the interests of the people of the state, Collins said.

Naperville resident Wright, an 11-year tollway employee, took up an investigation into whether Murillo had verbally abused a female subordinate in 2009. She reported in July 2009 the mistreatment had occurred and that evidence indicated Murillo had an inappropriate relationship with a representative from a company doing business with the tollway, the lawsuit states.

The company was HNTB, an architecture and engineering firm, Collins said. HNTB did not respond to a request for comment.

In spring 2010, Wright was asked to report on new allegations that Murillo had retaliated against a male employee who cooperated with her probe and the executive inspector general's office

She concluded in May that evidence indicated Murillo had retaliated against the employee and recommended the issue be investigated further.

Shortly after, tollway officials demoted Wright and said new leadership at the tollway wanted to fill her job with someone of their own choosing, the suit said.

Following that encounter, Wright was put on probation for using too many sick or vacation days, which she denies, subjected to complaints about her perfume, and assigned menial tasks like checking on the agency's ergonomic chairs, the lawsuit contends. Up until this point, her work record was stellar, Collins said.

On Sept. 17, Wright was suspended without pay.

A letter from tollway attorney Tom Bamonte to Collins obtained by the Daily Herald states that Wright had wrongfully transferred tollway documents to her home computer and disclosed them to third parties. He also noted that demotion did not affect her salary.

Collins contended, “Mary deserves her job back. The ethics act aims to protect people like Mary and we want to put the law to work.