Phil Eng’s Professional Derailment Costs the T An Experienced Leader, Plus a $495K Settlement
MBTA General Manager Phil Eng is forcing the MBTA to lose an experienced member of its leadership team and pay a $495,000 settlement nearly two years after he pulled his colleague’s hair at a 2024 dinner.
Local reporter Scott Van Voorhis first reported the hair-pulling incident in the June 15 edition of his Contrarian Boston newsletter.
At the time, MBTA’s press office acknowledged that there had been an “insensitive interaction with one of (Eng’s) direct reports.”
In a television appearance on WCVB’s “On the Record” later that week, Eng said “I own the mistake of an interaction that I shouldn’t have done. I’ve apologized, and I’m focused on how to move forward in terms of the agency.”
Governor Healey had also told reporters that she was “absolutely” confident in Eng’s ability to do his job in spite of the incident.
On Friday, the T released a copy of a legal settlement with the employee to the Boston Globe.
The settlement revealed that the victim had been the same person responsible for managing Eng’s crisis communications through the ordeal: Gabrielle Mondestin, the T’s chief communications officer and one of the few women of color in the MBTA’s executive ranks.
The Boston Globe reported that under the terms of the agreement, Mondestin will resign on Sept. 18, and the T will pay out a $495,000 settlement.
That figure includes a $240,000 severance payment (about one year’s worth of her salary) plus $255,000 for damages to cover her attorneys’ costs.
The Globe also reported that both Mondestin and Eng signed the agreement on Aug. 7.
Mondestin has been the T’s Chief Communications Officer since 2023. She had previously been the Chief Communications Officer and a Deputy Chief of Staff for the Boston Public Schools.
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