Young children get on a school bus.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A former Palm Beach County school bus driver alleges the school system discriminated against him due to his race.
Plaintiff Joseph Herode Venant filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach Division.
In his 14-page complaint against the Palm Beach County School District, Venant makes allegations of national-origin discrimination, disability discrimination, unlawful medical inquiries and examinations, retaliation, hostile work environment, and related state-law violations.
Venant, a Haitian-American, alleges that after he engaged in protected activity, the school district subjected him to: a campaign of “escalating, pretextual” medical demands; threats to his employment and commercial driver license; the alteration of his workers’ compensation medical records; the misclassification of a return-to-duty drug test as a pre-employment test; “contradictory ‘job abandonment’ maneuvers” designed to force him out while he was complying; and disparate treatment “markedly harsher” than that afforded those who were non-Haitian, female, and those who hadn’t filed complaints or claims.
In doing so, he claims the school district violated the federal Civil Rights Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, Florida Civil Rights Act, Florida Workers’ Compensation Law, and Florida Whistleblower's Act.
Venant, 56, was hired by the school district in August 2016. He worked as a bus driver for nine years, according to his complaint.
His lawsuit mainly stems from a “brief loss of awareness” that Venant claims lasted no more than a few seconds, in December 2023.
At the time, the bus he was driving drifted laterally and its right-side mirrors contacted roadside foliage, his filing states.
After, he alleges he was pressured by a team leader to be evaluated for possible heart issues – even though he passed post-incident drug and alcohol screens and a responding supervisor observed he was alert.
The emergency room ordered only routine laboratory studies — all of which returned normal — and ordered no radiological or cardiac evaluation, Venant claims.
Days later, the school district’s transportation services general manager demanded that Venant produce a return-to-work clearance within six days.
Though his primary care physician issued a release and second, more-clarifying release, the school district demanded clearances from a cardiologist and an internal-medicine physician, he alleges.
Venant again complied, and he returned to work in January 2024.
Then, in February 2024, his bus was rear-ended, resulting in a spinal injury and workers’ compensation claim.
“Beginning October 8, 2024 – approximately seven weeks after Mr. Venant's work-related injury became known to the District – Mr. Venant received a cascade of three letters from the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (‘FLHSMV’) Bureau of Motorist Compliance (dated October 8, 2024; October 29, 2024; and January 8, 2025), each demanding progressively more invasive medical disclosures and threatening his CDL,” his filing states.
He claims other bus drivers in similar situations were treated “far more favorably.”
In his lawsuit, he points to a Black bus driver who fainted while operating a bus in October 2024. The driver was placed on an accommodation period of about nine months – and without a six-day ultimatum or termination threat.
Venant alleges he faced “escalating adverse conduct” after continuing to engage in protected activity, including filing a written complaint to a member of U.S. Congress in December 2024, an U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge in January 2024, and a complaint to the Florida Commission on Ethics in March 2025.
He contends the school district’s stated justifications for its conduct “shifted repeatedly” and are “unworthy of credence.”
He argues its medical demands were not job-related and “were applied inconsistently.”
Venant seeks an award of back pay, front pay, lost benefits, compensatory damages, injunctive relief including expungement of unlawful records, attorney fees and pre- and post-judgment interests.
Coral Gables law firm Vindex Privatus PLLC is representing Venant in the lawsuit.
