She reported an assault at her desk. Months later, she says she was the one pushed out
A Washington-area transit worker says her employer's response to a workplace assault made a bad situation worse, then pushed her out.
That, in essence, is the account laid out in Duckett v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, No. 1:26-cv-01086, filed April 22, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The plaintiff, Kamryn Duckett, spent roughly six years at WMATA and was working as a Communications Agent at the Metro Integrated Command and Communications Center in Alexandria when, she says, a coworker assaulted her at her desk. Her lawsuit argues that what happened after January 9, 2025, is a case study in how not to handle a harassment report.
On that day, according to the filing, a male coworker came up behind Duckett at her desk, grabbed her jaw, and squeezed while forcing her head back. When she told him he was being too rough, she says he answered that he "liked it rough." She reported the incident to supervisors the same day, filed a police report the next, and obtained a temporary restraining order shortly after. The coworker was later convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery in June 2025 and, after an appeal, convicted again in November 2025. Duckett alleges he remains on WMATA's payroll.
The lawsuit's HR-facing allegations are what give the case its sting. Duckett says the first supervisor she approached told her he could not take the report and that she would need to go to a female manager. Internal video of the incident reportedly existed, yet she says WMATA did not open its own investigation until July 1, 2025, nearly six months later, and only after the criminal case wrapped. When she raised concerns about encountering her alleged harasser during shift overlaps, Duckett says a communications director told her, "there is no reason you can't work together," and later, "we will deal with it when it comes up."
The accommodation side of the story is just as pointed. Duckett says the assault left her with anxiety, depression, and PTSD, and that she asked for extended leave, a safe workplace, enforcement of the restraining order, and reassignment to a comparable role. Instead, according to the filing, she was moved from a Level 19 Communications Agent position to a lower Level 18 Customer Engagement Specialist role with fewer duties and less overtime, and was passed over without interviews for several internal jobs she applied for. Her accommodation request, she says, was "administratively closed" in July 2025.
Duckett also alleges that WMATA's internal equal opportunity office labeled her retaliation complaint "unsubstantiated" without ever interviewing her, and later closed her harassment file with a "no cause" finding and no recommended corrective action. She says she resigned on August 5, 2025, describing it as a constructive termination.
The claims are drawn from the initial filing and have not been tested in court. WMATA has not yet responded, and no ruling has been issued. The agency has not publicly commented on the allegations.
