Richard Davis, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100 has agreed to step down from his job after being suspended amid an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct involving a subordinate in the union, the Daily News has learned.
Multiple sources, granted anonymity to discuss union matters, told The News that Davis has signed a severance agreement with Local 100, the city’s largest transit union, ending his employment on Jan. 31. The News obtained documents showing Davis was suspended by the TWU International Tuesday following the investigation, which began when a subordinate came to the international union with allegations Davis had pressured her into a sexual relationship.
“Based on the report, I have determined that you have conducted yourself in an appalling manner that is detrimental to the best interests of the Union,” TWU International President John Samuelsen wrote, informing Davis of his suspension.
“You are being charged with pressuring a woman employed by Local 100 into having sexual relations with you,” Samuelsen wrote. “Sometime after the sexual relationship ended, you took adverse employment action against this person, allegedly in connection with the cessation of the sexual relationship.”
Davis was stripped of his access to the Local 100 union hall in Brooklyn and any other union property Tuesday, and his union-issued phone and computers were disabled, according to the memo. As previously reported by The News, union members were told that Davis was “out sick until further notice.” The local has some 40,000 members.
The investigative report, obtained by The News and first reported by the Chief-Leader, was commissioned by the international to an outside law firm. Using a pseudonym for the transit worker, the report’s author writes “I found Ms. Doe to be highly credible regarding the allegations against Mr. Davis.” It does not indicate whether Davis himself was interviewed.
Davis could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.
According to the report, the unnamed female transit worker in question said she began receiving unwanted sexual commentary from Davis shortly after she was hired by the union in 2022.
The commentary allegedly included Davis’ sexually explicit descriptions of how “[women] can control a man…”
The report says Davis repeatedly requested one-on-one meetings with the woman before work hours, and that at one of those meetings, the woman noticed Davis had a picture of her on his desk.
In January 2023, the report says, the woman was with Davis and other Local 100 members in Houston to celebrate Martin Luther King Day when the union boss asked her to come to his hotel room.
“Mr. Davis asked her to talk to him about what had happened to her in her past,” the report reads. “When she began crying, he kissed her and initiated sex.”
The woman told investigators that, afterward, she told Davis the sex “was wrong and would not happen again.” But she told investigators that they had sex at least two more times in her office at the Local 100 union hall at Davis’ urging, and two more times on work trips.
“Mrs. Doe indicated that she felt pressured and did not want to have sex,” investigators wrote, using a pseudonym for the woman. “She expressed that she felt if she did not have sex with Mr. Davis and do what he wanted, her TWU Local 100 and bargaining unit jobs would be in jeopardy and she would be terminated.”
The woman told investigators that she felt Davis could end her career “with a click.”
She also told investigators that Davis physically threatened her, “indicating that if she said anything about this [the relationship] or betrayed her he would kill her, even mentioning her children.”
“During the interviews, Ms. Doe repeatedly expressed concerns for her safety, that of her children, and her family,” investigators wrote.
The allegations laid out in the union’s internal investigation the second time in a little more than a year Davis has been accused of threats related to workplace sexual relationships.
In December of 2023, Davis was accused in a lawsuit of beating up another transit worker with whom he was romantically involved. The woman accused Davis of punching her in the head and placing her in a headlock during an argument in 2015, and assaulting her again in 2016. The 2015 episode, the lawsuit says, was triggered by the woman asking Davis about other affairs she suspected he was having.
Davis has denied all those allegations, and the lawsuit is ongoing.
Under the terms of his severance agreement with Local 100, Davis will receive 100 weeks of pay and health insurance through the end of 2026.
Union sources said the international had been planning a disciplinary hearing for Davis which could have removed him from office, but his resignation has stopped those proceedings.
A post on the Local 100 website Friday confirms Davis’ resignation, but cites “health reasons” as the cause of his departure.
John Chiarello, Secretary-Treasurer for the local, will be handing day-to-day operations for Local 100 in Davis’ stead until a permanent replacement can be appointed by the local’s executive board.
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