CSX fired him weeks after assuring him it had "zero tolerance" for retaliation
CSX Transportation is facing a federal lawsuit from a Naval Reservist who says the railroad fired him after he flagged discrimination.
Matthew Levesque spent roughly a decade as a signal maintainer for CSX, inspecting and maintaining railroad signal equipment in the Erie, Pennsylvania area. He joined the United States Naval Reserve in approximately June 2020. According to a lawsuit filed on April 15 in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Levesque v. CSX Transportation, Inc., Case No. 1:26-cv-00100), what followed was a pattern of hostility from a colleague-turned-supervisor that ultimately cost him his job — and, he argues, was driven by his military service and his use of family medical leave.
Levesque alleges the friction began as early as January 2021, when a colleague named Jared Fortner — who was required to cover Levesque's territory during drill weekends and training periods — made comments expressing resentment toward his military absences. The situation escalated, Levesque alleges, after Fortner was promoted to supervise him in late 2023. According to the filing, Fortner told him it "would be really nice to have an employee here who's here full-time" and that his drill schedule "puts a lot of extra work on everybody else."
In early May 2024, while Levesque was attending a drill in Virginia, Fortner allegedly called his local drill center in Buffalo, New York, demanding to know his whereabouts and saying he "didn't believe a word" Levesque was saying.
Separately, Levesque had also been taking approved intermittent family medical leave since approximately late January 2024 — roughly one day a week — to care for his terminally ill father, who was on home hospice. He alleges the pressure from management discouraged him from taking more. On at least one occasion, the filing states, he was denied an overtime shift because management considered him "not reliable to be at work" due to his father's illness.
On or about May 5, 2024, Levesque reported Fortner's conduct to CSX's ethics hotline and HR department. He alleges he was assured the company had a "zero tolerance policy for retaliation."
Roughly 23 days later, CSX suspended him. The company initially brought two charges on May 28, 2024, then added two more the following day — fuel theft, improper track protection, falsifying test records, and lying about a pending investigation. Levesque alleges each charge was pretextual and that he presented evidence rebutting all four during disciplinary hearings on July 1 and 2, 2024. CSX terminated him by letter dated July 16, 2024.
The filing also alleges that Fortner had begun printing and collecting Levesque's work records as early as February 2024 — months before any charges surfaced — and that CSX's internal investigation into the discrimination report concluded approximately one week after his termination, finding "no wrongdoing on the side of management."
Levesque is seeking lost wages, lost benefits including his railroad retirement pension and health insurance, and liquidated damages. CSX has not yet responded, and no determination has been made on the merits of the case.
