Phil Eng Hair Pulling Incident Exposes the MBTA’s Culture Problem

If you needed more proof that the MBTA operates by its own rules, here it is. Phil Eng hair pulling — that’s the phrase Boston transit riders are now searching after news broke that the MBTA’s General Manager grabbed and yanked a female employee’s hair at a work dinner back in November 2024. It took nearly two years for the story to come out, and when it did, Eng called it “insensitive.” Governor Maura Healey called it fine.

Let that sink in.

What Phil Eng Hair Pulling Actually Looked Like

According to the Boston Globe, the incident happened at a restaurant dinner with MBTA staff and their spouses. The group had been joking earlier in the evening about hair — Eng had reportedly been ribbing himself about his own baldness. Then, at some point during the evening, he reached over and pulled a female employee’s hair.

That’s not a misunderstanding. That’s not a cultural gap. That’s a grown man in a position of authority putting his hands on a subordinate without consent.

Eng told the Globe he understood “in hindsight” that it was insensitive. He says he apologized. The employee filed a formal complaint. MBTA officials confirmed the complaint would move through internal channels. No word yet on whether that review could lead to disciplinary action or a referral to law enforcement.

Healey’s Response Is the Real Story

Here’s where things get interesting. Governor Maura Healey, who appointed Eng and has staked a significant portion of her transportation credibility on his leadership of the T, came out in support of him. She said she has confidence in him.

That’s a political calculation, plain and simple. Firing or forcing out Eng would mean admitting she picked the wrong person for one of the hardest public sector jobs in Massachusetts. The MBTA has had a rough few years — safety failures, derailments, federal oversight — and Eng was supposed to be the steady hand that turned things around.

And by some measures, he has made progress. But that doesn’t make what he did acceptable, and it doesn’t make Healey’s response anything other than a governor protecting her own track record at the expense of the employee who was touched without her permission.

What This Means for MBTA Workers

The Phil Eng hair pulling story matters beyond the gossip angle. The MBTA employs thousands of people, many of them women, many in lower-level roles with little leverage to push back when management crosses a line. When the General Manager puts his hands on a subordinate and the Governor shrugs, it sends a message to every single one of those workers about what they can expect if something happens to them.

The complaint is now in internal channels. Which, at the MBTA, is about as reassuring as being told the train will be there in five minutes. We’ve heard that one before.

There’s also the question of timing. Why did this take two years to surface? Was the employee pressured to stay quiet? Did anyone at the MBTA try to handle this internally and make it disappear? Those are fair questions that haven’t been answered yet.

The Bigger Picture

Boston’s public institutions have a recurring problem with accountability. When the person at the top does something wrong, the people above them tend to close ranks. We saw it with the police department for years. We’ve seen it in city hall. Now we’re seeing it at the MBTA.

Phil Eng may well be the best available option to run Boston’s struggling transit system. That’s a separate debate. But defending him on this specific issue — a man in power physically touching a subordinate without consent — is the wrong call. It tells workers their comfort and safety matter less than management continuity.

The MBTA has been asking Boston riders to trust it for years. Trust is harder to rebuild when the people running the agency can’t be held to basic standards of professional conduct.

What do you think — should Healey have come out harder against Eng, or is her support the right move for keeping the MBTA on track? Drop your take in the comments.