Update On RIOC President And General Counsel Workplace Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against NY State Governor's Executive Chambers And DHCR Staff - More Filings From Lawyers And RIOC Director Provides Added Insight Into What Is Going On - Roosevelt Island Residents Petition Demanding Functioning And Competent RIOC

An update on the September 12 racial discrimination lawsuit filed in the Southern District Of New York by Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Shelton Haynes and General Counsel Gretchen Robinson against members of NY State Governor Kathy Hochul's executive chamber staff and NY State Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) Commissioner Ruthanne Visnauskas and staff member Alejandro Valella.

The DHCR Commissioner or a designee serves as RIOC Board of Directors Chair.

Ms Visnauskas made a rare public Roosevelt Island appearance at the November 14 RIOC Board Of Directors meeting sitting and chatting frequently with Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson

and she was joined by Mr Vallela.

Whatever matters discussed were done in whispers so the subject of conversation between the Plaintiffs and Defendants in the lawsuit is not known although from all appearances it was very amicable.

As reported November 15:

During the November 14 Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board of Directors Meeting Public Session, Roosevelt Island Historical Society (RIHS) President Judy Berdy spoke for many residents frustrated and angry with the ongoing dysfunction of RIOC...

Following Ms Berdy, I asked:

How can the Roosevelt Island community be assured that RIOC will operate efficiently and competently when it's President and General Counsel are suing the Governor's staff? 

 

There was no answer.

Roosevelt Island resident Roberta Kleiman has previously asked:

Please let's fix this broken system!

Dear RIOC Board,

How can we fix this????...

On November 16, Ms Kleiman wrote to the RIOC Directors and Mr Haynes asking:

Dear RIOC Board and Mr Haynes,

First I wish to thank all the residents and select board members who spoke at the board meeting this past Tuesday and helped fight for an effective, and elected RIOC Board of Directors. 

Unfortunately I was unable to attend but my main question is How can RIOC fairly and effectively govern Roosevelt Island when it’s 2 senior most executives are basically suing US!  We, Roosevelt Islanders, ARE the state!

Again, I wish to thank those who spoke on behalf of the community for their efforts to bring democracy to Roosevelt Island.

Thank you!

RIOC Board Director Ben Fhala (Seen at far right of image taken from November 14 RIOC Board Meeting video screenshot)

replied to Ms Kleiman today:

Dear Roberta,

I appreciate your ongoing contributions to the dialogue and engagement with this board.

As a Jewish Middle Eastern man with roots in Libya, I've drawn inspiration from the wise teachings of our spiritual leaders. These figures instilled in me a deep understanding that all humans are created in the image of God, and there's always something to learn from each person. Even when faced with adversity or actions I perceive as immoral, unethical, or lacking fiduciary care for RIOC's long-term needs, I strive to embody these teachings.

The most significant conversation I've had with Shelton Haynes and Gretchen Robinson occurred on July 19th. In that meeting, I witnessed a man in genuine distress, making serious claims of racial attacks against him and his staff. While he vaguely referenced members of his oversight, he specifically named multiple individuals in our community and asserted that he had been actively blocked by Chambers and HRC from addressing these attacks on his reputation and character, preventing him from sharing his experience freely. In my understanding, he believed these actions were racially motivated.

During this meeting, I asked Shelton if he could substantiate his claims and if he would be willing to present them to the board members. He agreed, indicating he would do so in the upcoming board meeting. However, during the same meeting, RIOC's General Counsel, Gretchen Robinson, acted more as Shelton's personal lawyer, frequently interjecting into my questions and statements and making me feel like a hostile witness.

At one point, the General Counsel warned me that continued public and RIOC engagement could lead to legal action against me. Despite this, I understood the invalidity of her claims and reported them to new board members Dr. Melamed and Professor Tang. We collectively sought an emergency meeting in August, but the chair, aligned with the General Counsel, denied our agenda items and arranged an executive session to train new board members, a session I deemed illegal under New York laws.

Despite raising concerns about inappropriate topics in the "welcome" meeting and subsequent executive session, in my only meeting with Shelton Haynes, I observed a distressed man in real pain. I genuinely want to hear his perspective and understand if his oversight has been acting in a way that is inappropriate, enabling others to damage his reputation and character.

While the new board members are uncomfortable with many issues presented to us over the last few months, we don't know enough about the claims between the defendants, and our focus is on being true oversight to RIOC and creating an access point and voice for our community.

Bringing me full circle, having a claim against your oversight doesn't translate into an inability to govern fairly and effectively. I remain hopeful that Shelton Haynes and Gretchen Robinson will enable the new board members to exercise genuine oversight going forward, despite actively denying us this opportunity over the last few months.

Please note that I've included Gretchen Robinson, our legal staff, the newly positioned Chair designate, and BCCed Dr. Melamed, who hasn't received access to her government email due to administrative delays at RIOC.

Thanks,

Ben Fhala* Resident Board Member

*Disclaimer: All statements made by Ben Fhala are made in his capacity as a RIOC Resident Board member. He does not represent the entirety of RIOC or the full board but serves as a Resident Board member, offering information to the community and its stakeholders.

Back to the Haynes/Robinson lawsuit.

As reported October 2, according to the Haynes/Robinson lawsuit: filed last September 12

This is a case about how the Executive Chamber for the Office of the Governor of New York (the “Chamber”) and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (“RIOC”) have unfairly subjected Shelton J. Haynes and Gretchen K. Robinson (“Robinson,” and together with Haynes, the “Plaintiffs”), two African American executives, to continuous and pervasive discrimination by, including but not limited to, subjecting Haynes and Robinson to frequent unwarranted investigations by the New York State Inspector General (“NYSIG”) as well as ordering an independent investigation by an outside counsel – something not done for other, more serious allegations – based entirely on specious allegations of wrongdoing. The Chamber did so while simultaneously thwarting Haynes’s and Robinson’s efforts to fight back against the discrimination and defend themselves and RIOC against a multitude of defamatory statements made by a local blogger and a group of disgruntled former employees....

 And reported September 16, 2023:

... Though not named as defendants in the lawsuit, Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson claim in their lawsuit that NY State Senator Liz Krueger, NY State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright and Roosevelt Island Daily publisher David Stone contributed to a "racist backlash" against them.

The lawsuit also claims that Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson were excluded from the appointment process of 3 new RIOC Board Members in an attempt to undermine their authority and "ability to discharge their job functions." Haynes and Robinson claim the 3 new RIOC board members are antagonistic to them.

Read the full lawsuit complaint....

Mr Fhala, Dr Melamed and Professor Tang are the 3 new RIOC Board members alleged by Mr Haynes and Ms Robinson to be antagonistic to them.

On November 7, the attorneys for Mr Haynes and Ms Robertson wrote to the Southern District NY Court Judge hearing their case:

...I write on behalf of Plaintiffs Shelton J. Haynes and Gretchen K. Robinson (“Plaintiffs”) to respectfully request that this Court stay proceedings pending the issuance of a Notice of Right to Sue Letter (“the Notice Letter”) by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”). Defendants do not consent to this request....

Attorneys for the defendants opposed the requested stay and replied on November 13:

... To the extent Plaintiffs’ legal strategy has always been to name the Chamber and RIOC alongside the individual Defendants, they prematurely filed this action before exhausting the administrative remedies as to those potential parties. Now Plaintiffs ask this Court to stay their own case indefinitely—a decision that would delay the individual Defendants’ right to respond to serious, although meritless, allegations—as they wait for an EEOC determination.

... More significantly, Defendants have been publicly accused of racial discrimination and retaliation and will suffer prejudice if they are prevented from promptly defending themselves. Defendants are government employees who are the subjects of serious allegations of wrongdoing. The lawsuit appears intended to inhibit Defendants’ ability to execute the duties of their offices, which has posed operational challenges for RIOC. Justice demands a prompt resolution of this case....

On November 16, the Haynes/Robinson attorneys responded:

... At this stage, all that Plaintiffs need to allege are “minimal” facts “suggesting an inference” of such animus. Id. Plaintiffs’ allegations easily meet that threshold. Notably, after its internal investigation, the law firm RIOC hired drafted a report confirming Plaintiffs’ claims of racial discrimination, and Defendants instructed the law firm to remove and sanitize those findings. Compl. ¶ 85. The only plausible explanation for Defendants’ instruction, particularly in light of the favorable inferences afforded to Plaintiffs on a motion to dismiss, is that Defendants sought to cover up the ongoing racial discrimination Plaintiffs faced. This fact alone is fatal to Defendants’ argument.

Plaintiffs’ allegations comparing the adverse conduct against them to the lack of adverse conduct against their white predecessors also raise an inference of racial animus. Plaintiffs allege, for example, that Defendants excluded them from the selection of new Board members, id. ¶¶ 1- 2, 92, and allowed them to be subjected to unwarranted investigations, id. ¶ 46, but treated their white predecessors differently—supporting an inference of racial animus. That racial animus is further demonstrated by Defendants (1) removing an African American Board member with an expiring term while permitting two white Board members to remain despite their expired terms, id. ¶ 103, and (2) preventing African American Board members from serving on their requested committees while appointing a white Board member to his requested committee, id. ¶¶ 103, 107.

Indeed, Plaintiffs’ comparators engaged in more severe misconduct (e.g., using racist and sexually inappropriate language, id. ¶ 7, and drinking alcohol and golfing on the job, id. ¶ 70)— which ultimately cost them their jobs—than that alleged against Plaintiffs, yet they were never investigated by an outside law firm. This raises an inference of racial animus sufficient to defeat a motion to dismiss.... 

Here are the letters from the attorneys for the plantiffs and defendants excerpted above.

Heres the Haynes/Robinson lawsuit complaint.

While this mess all plays out in Albany and the court:

NEW: absolutely wild stuff is happening on Roosevelt
Island. The CEO of the island’s governing body is suing his own bosses—Gov. Kathy Hochul’s admin—alleging they stopped him from going after the ex-employee whistleblowers who accused him of corruption:https://t.co/pc6egb0oTu

— Nick Garber (@nick_garber) September 21, 2023

Roosevelt Island residents have organized a petition drive 

demanding: 

A FUNCTIONING AND COMPETENT RIOC

You can sign the Petition here, if you agree or at the very least, demand attention be paid to Roosevelt Island residents, workers and all who care about the community.