SAN ANTONIO – A former City of San Antonio driver is accusing the city of discriminating against her sexual orientation, penalizing her for using FMLA leave, and firing her days after she reported sexual harassment, according to a lawsuit reviewed by KSAT Investigates.
Attorney representing Megan Lee Garza filed the suit against the city this week in federal court. She’s asking for her job back, as well as back pay, damages, and attorney’s fees.
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Garza was a chauffeur for the city’s senior services division who was responsible for transporting people from their homes to senior centers, court records show. She worked under the city’s Department of Human Services from October 2022 until she was terminated in May 2026.
Dispute over Pride decorations followed by years of discipline, complaints
According to the lawsuit, Garza said she started being disciplined and targeted in 2023 after speaking up about the removal of Pride decorations from the Walker Ranch Senior Center.
In December 2023, records show Garza’s stocking was separated from her colleagues and thrown on the floor. After reporting the incident, the lawsuit said the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity administrator accused Garza of being in a romantic relationship with a female coworker. Garza said Russell’s comment was untrue and made her uncomfortable, records show.
In June 2024, records state Garza told her direct supervisor approved her plans to decorate her city-assigned bus for Pride month, just as she had done for other holidays and events.
The bus, which was in a badge-access controlled yard, was keyed that same month, according to the lawsuit. Garza said she reported the vandalism to the city. Instead of investigating the incident, court documents state the city told Garza to remove the decorations and chalk from the vehicle.
The city later said her complaint was “unfounded,” according to the lawsuit.
Months after Garza filed the complaint, records show she was involuntarily transferred to the Doris Griffin Senior Center. Garza, who did not want to transfer because she said it would triple her commute, was told the move was not optional and permanent, according to the lawsuit.
The court records alleged that a male driver was offered the same position and allowed to turn it down.
In May 2025, records state Garza was suspended for five days for “neglect of duty and failure to follow instructions.” The lawsuit said the suspension was tied to Garza taking a late 55-minute lunch after working through her scheduled lunch period in April.
Records show Garza appealed the suspension, which was later reduced to three days.
During the summer of 2025, the lawsuit states supervisors accused Garza twice of incidents while driving, including “nearly ending a member’s life in a ‘near-miss’ incident,” without checking the video first.
In July 2025, Garza filed another complaint with the city’s EEO office about “the pattern of write-ups directed at her,” according to court records.
Garza was disciplined three times in February 2026 for reporting a duplicate entry in a system and after complaints from “a driver who cut her off and from a lane merge”, according to the lawsuit.
Garza, according to court records, reached out to Human Resources in March because “she believed she was again being targeted.” The lawsuit alleges her supervisor declined to meet with her for two weeks.
Garza alleges city penalized FMLA leave, fired her after reporting sexual harassment
The city approved intermittent leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for Garza, who records show has chronic migraine headaches.
Garza, a city bus driver, said the chronic migraine headaches “cause episodic incapacity, including visual impairment that renders her unable to operate a commercial vehicle.”
She used the leave multiple time between January 2025 though 2026. According to the lawsuit, Garza was assessed attendance points “because she was ‘taking advantage of FMLA.’”
In April 2026, records show the city removed Garza from driving duties for a week after she hit a curb while dropping someone off. She said nobody reported being injured at the time.
A week later, records show she was put back on driving duties and was assigned to help with additional routes.
That same week, Garza said representatives from the city’s Human Resources department suggested the driving job was not a good fit and “pressed her to resign rather than be terminated,” according to the lawsuit.
After a second meeting, Garza said one of the HR people would call multiple times a day asking whether she reconsidered resigning.
In late April, the court records show Garza submitted an inquiry to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
In May, records state a colleague saw a sexual harassment incident involving Garza and told Garza she planned to report it. Garza said she reported the incident to HR.
A week after Garza made the report, the lawsuit state HR representative placed her on administrative leave and gave her a proposed termination letter.
In the court records, Garza said she was told she could contest it by emailing a statement, but said she was locked out of her city email address. A few days later, she was terminated.
“[I] found it odd that [the City] allowed me to start working again regular duties and they only gave termination papers after I reported the sexual harassment statements,” Garza said in a statement to the EEOC, according to the lawsuit.
Garza said she asked her supervisor for her personal belongings she left in city vehicles, but has yet to get them back.
Records show Garza has appealed her termination with the Municipal Civil Service Commission.
KSAT Investigates emailed the City of San Antonio for comment on Thursday afternoon. A city spokesperson provided the following statement on behalf of the City Attorney’s Office:
“The City is carefully reviewing the allegations and will respond through the legal process. The City is committed to fair, lawful and nondiscriminatory employment practices and will defend its personnel decisions and practices in court.”
Adam Poncio, an attorney representing Garcia, told KSAT in an email that “the facts set out in the filed complaint speak for themselves and demonstrate the hidden pattern of discrimination and retaliation that lay hidden in the conduct minds of those that would oppose and retaliate against the LGBTQ lifestyle.”
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.
