WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (“Washington Lawyers’ Committee”), and the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll LLP, today filed a lawsuit against Medical Transportation Management, Inc. (“MTM”) and one of its contractors, OnTime Transportation, Inc. (“OnTime”), challenging their use of an overly broad and unnecessarily punitive criminal background screening policy that goes far beyond any legitimate public safety concerns, to permanently stigmatize and bar from employment well-qualified individuals, a disproportionate number of whom are African Americans.
Plaintiff James Blakney worked as a medical transportation driver for the defendants for three years without issue. During this time, he disclosed his conviction record during annual criminal background checks. In 2024, Mr. Blakney submitted his regular, and unchanged, background check. MTM’s internal credentialing system disqualified him from transportation services due to a two-decade old arrest, effectively terminating Mr. Blakney.
Today’s lawsuit argues that the policy violates the local antidiscrimination laws as well as guidance issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). MTM’s policy resulted in Mr. Blakney’s termination without the opportunity to appeal, and with no consideration of relevant factors including the amount of time that had passed since the arrest, the relationship of the arrest to the job requirements, and Mr. Blakney’s demonstrated ability to perform in the position. Mr. Blakney argues that MTM’s policy disparately impacts Black individuals.
“I was floored that MTM fired me. I’ve been driving for them for years and loved helping the patients they serve throughout the District,” said James Blakney, the former MTM driver and plaintiff in this case. “Each year MTM conducts its background check, I’ve been forthcoming about the misdemeanor I got 20 years ago. It’s important to be honest, and it’s never been an issue. Plus, I had a successful driving record, and the patients really liked me. So, I was floored that MTM’s policy just terminated me. No discussion. Done. Just like that.”
Mr. Blakney began working as a full-time van driver for MTM and OnTime in 2021. In this role, he transported clients – typically dialysis patients and adults with intellectual disabilities – to and from their health appointments and classes in D.C. Mr. Blakney drove clients every Monday to Friday and every other Saturday for over three years. This added up to over 8,000 hours of driving across some of the busiest parts of D.C., ensuring that clients made their appointments on time and that they returned safely home afterwords.
Decades of empirical research confirm that facially neutral criminal background screening policies can produce unlawful disparate impacts when they disproportionately exclude otherwise qualified workers of a particular race. D.C. discrimination law consequently prohibits employers from relying on selection criteria that systematically and unjustifiably disadvantage Black workers. When employers adopt blanket disqualification rules untethered to job-relatedness or business necessity, those rules fall squarely within the category of practices that antidiscrimination laws deem unlawful.
“While criminal background information can be a legitimate tool for employers, MTM’s policy unfairly and disproportionately limits opportunities for qualified Black employees. The over-criminalization of D.C.'s Black residents means that they are much more likely to be impacted by MTM's overly punitive background check policy,” said Sarah L. Bessell of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, who is also representing Mr. Blakney in this case.
Black individuals in D.C. are arrested at rates 10 times higher than that of whites. Since the 1990s, over 90% of adults sentenced for felonies in D.C. were Black, despite only making up an average of 50% of the general population.
“MTM’s decision to terminate Mr. Blakney is incredibly disheartening, and clearly symptomatic of a larger and inherently biased business issue,” said Harini Srinivasan, a partner at Cohen Milstein, who is representing the plaintiff in this case. “Disparate impact doesn’t arise in a vacuum. Black Americans are disproportionately burdened by the criminal justice system because of long-standing structural inequities and are far more likely to have a criminal record. The use of expansive, overbroad, or stale criminal background screens thus predictably and disproportionately screens out or terminates qualified Black applicants and employees.”
If you believe that you were denied employment or wrongfully terminated by MTM because of your arrest and conviction record in the last two years, please contact the Washington Lawyers’ Committee: Get Legal Help – The Washington Lawyers' Committee.
About Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a premier U.S. plaintiffs’ law firm, with over 100 attorneys across eight offices, champions the causes of real people—workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers—working to deliver corporate reforms and fair markets for the common good. We have litigated landmark civil rights and employment disputes before the highest courts in the nation and continue to actively shape civil rights and employment law in the United States. For more information visit https://www.cohenmilstein.com.
About Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs partners with community members and organizations on scores of cases to combat discrimination in housing, employment, education, immigration, criminal justice reform, and public accommodations based on race, gender, disability, family size, history of criminal conviction, and more. For over 50 years, the Committee has delivered a steady stream of civil rights victories to advance justice in the District and beyond. For more information, please visit https://www.washlaw.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Washington Lawyers’ Committee, linda_paris@washlaw.org, 202-308-5186
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, cohenmilstein@berlinrosen.com
