Photo by Mike Maguire.

Updated with a statement from Metro.

A new WTOP report found that a Metro employee fired for faking records about completing preventative maintenance is fighting to get his job back.

According to court documents obtained by WTOP, Metro terminated Mechanic AA Seyoum Haile a month after the deadly smoke incident that occurred near L’Enfant Plaza in January 2015. He had worked for Metro for 13 years.

The Metro investigation found that no computer logs from the Rail Operations Control Center or radio recordings showed any evidence that the appropriate tests had been done Nov. 6, 2014, despite paperwork filed by Haile that indicated the tests had been completed.

“You have shown a pattern of routinely falsifying [preventive maintenance] records for fan shaft FL-01 a critical fire/life-safety system, to include falsely representing communication with an Operator from an earlier test at a different fan shaft,” the Metro investigation concluded.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a report citing “ineffective inspection and maintenance practices” for the death of Carol Glover, a 61-year-old grandmother who died after being exposed to the smoke more than 40 minutes.

Haile immediately challenged the decision, and Amalgamated Transit Union 689, which represents Metro employees, argued that “blaming the grievant for the January 12, 2015 ‘breakdown of tunnel fan FL-01 is a misplacement of responsibility and the discharge should be overturned,” according to an arbitration report obtained by WTOP. The union is legally obligated to defend its members.

After convening in fall 2015, an arbitration panel determined in April that Haile should receive a 180-day unpaid suspension rather than termination, and should not lose seniority or benefits.

But despite that ruling, Haile is not back on the job. Local 689 filed a lawsuit in court yesterday to get a federal judge to confirm that Metro needs to reinstate him.

“The issue has been investigated, litigated and concluded by an independent third party arbitrator who has ruled that he must return to work,” the union said in a statement. “Metro attempted and failed to make Mr. Haile the scapegoat of the L’Enfant Plaza incident when they fired him … The issue is concluded and Metro must obey the law.”

But it doesn’t look like the issue is over. “We strongly disagree with the arbitration award given the employee’s egregious acts,” said Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld in a statement. “We intend to file a motion in District Court to vacate the arbitration award.”

Under Wiedefeld, Metro has undergone some “management restructuring,” meaning it fired 20 managers, including seven senior managers in May. Earlier this month, Wiedefeld announced that Metro terminated a train operator for running a red signal and nearly causing a collision with an oncoming train.

“I took this step because I am deeply concerned by the disregard this Operator demonstrated for the wellbeing of his coworkers—namely the track walkers on the ground—as well as for his passengers, and those passengers and employees on other trains,” Wiedefeld said in a memo to employees announcing the decision. “Safety is not a slogan.”