Omaha, Neb. (AP) — A former BNSF worker who was named one of the railroad’s employees of the year in 2021 for her work in supporting LGBTQ+ workers is now suing the railroad where she worked for 30 years. She did, saying that she was denied opportunities for advancement following her gender transition early in her career after being regularly promoted.
Randi Berghorst recently sued the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad in federal court, arguing that BNSF discriminated against her.
“I am extremely disappointed that this is where he had to go,” she said.
BNSF declined to comment directly on Berghorst’s lawsuit, and it has yet to formally respond to the court. But railroad spokeswoman Leena Kent defended BNSF’s hiring practices, saying the railway does not discriminate against people based on gender identity and sexual orientation. Kent cited the Pride+ employee group that Berghorst helped create as evidence that BNSF is “committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace.”
“Once hired, our employees are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect; have equal access to tools, resources, training and development opportunities and an equal opportunity to achieve their full potential,” Kent said.
Burghorst still has the plaque that the railway thanked him for “making a significant impact on BNSF’s diversity and inclusive travel” hanging on his wall.
But at the same time she got that award, Berghorst said she was also struggling to get interviewed for more than a dozen jobs, despite her impressive resume. This was in stark contrast to earlier in his career when the 50-year-old was regularly promoted prior to his gender change in 2018.
Burghorst said she had previously done some of the jobs she was applying for and received positive reviews from her supervisors when she did them. Burghorst had worked her way up the ranks for several different management jobs, but in 2016 she decided to walk away from her Roadmaster job when she was struggling with mental health issues.
“I was going through a lot and was getting ready for my transition soon,” she said.
Nick Thompson, Berghorst’s attorney, said it is not unusual for roadmasters to withdraw from jobs that require people to be available at all times when they are dealing with personal issues such as divorce. But Thompson, whose KC Jones law firm specializes in representing railroad workers, said he’s never seen anyone else have a problem returning to that job later because he quit.
Burghorst said human resources executives never had a good answer when she asked why she was being fired. She said that the representative she spoke with could never point out any deficiencies in her resume.
According to Berghorst, the most troubling instance of being passed over for a job came when Berghorst applied for a training job when she had been known to teach other employees throughout her career, and she already had Had managerial experience of more than eight years.
The job listing said it needed five years of management experience, but Berghorst said she didn’t get a good explanation as to why she never got an interview. Then, a short time later, she said the job had been reposted to require only three years of management experience, and BNSF hired two men with much less experience than Berghorst for the job.
“They didn’t have anyone other than me—or anyone they wanted—who had more than five years, so they had to lower the requirements so they could get someone,” Berghorst said.
This prompted Berghorst to begin looking into filing a discrimination complaint against the railroad and eventually to apply for the Federal Railroad Administration job he now has as an inspector based in the Illinois town of Woodstock, although he still maintains a home in a small Minnesota town. Luverne is not far from the South Dakota border.
Making the decision to leave BNSF in January was a difficult one.
“I made this decision when it seemed like things were going nowhere with BNSF,” Burghorst said. “And I had 30 years, so I was locked into rail retirement.”
Berghorst is seeking damages in her lawsuit, but mostly she says she hopes her case will force BNSF to change. BNSF is owned by Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Group, but Buffett takes a hands-off approach to his subsidiaries and largely lets the railroad run itself.
Josh Funk, The Associated Press
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