Executives of the Black Roosevelt Island Working Company (RIOC) — its CEO and President Shelton Haynes, and Common Counsel Gretchen Robinson — had been fired final yr amidst a racial discrimination lawsuit in opposition to the state.
Roosevelt Island is positioned in New York Metropolis’s East River close to Manhattan and is a New York State public profit company that runs the island. Haynes began working there in 2016, and was the second Black individual to carry the president place. Robinson started working at RIOC in 2015, and was the primary Black individual in that place.
Their lawyer, Milton Williams, a associate at Walden Macht & Haran LLP, filed the discrimination lawsuit executives in 2023 with the U.S. Southern District of New York in opposition to RIOC and Governor Kathy Hochul’s Government Chamber. After practically a yr on paid administrative go away, Haynes and Robinson had been fired abruptly attributable to a “lack of confidence” in November 2024.
Litigation remains to be ongoing.
“That is nothing wanting a travesty,” mentioned Williams in an announcement. “Shelton Haynes and Gretchen Robinson have devoted their careers to public service and served the Roosevelt Island group with integrity and excellence. As an alternative of addressing their authentic considerations about systemic points, they’ve many times been met with retaliation and unfounded accusations. The actions taken in opposition to them, below the guise of a ‘lack of confidence,’ replicate a disturbing misuse of energy that undermines the ideas of equity and justice.”
The pair alleged that RIOC had a hostile work setting, was racially discriminatory, and launched quite a few “baseless” investigations into their conduct since they assumed their positions in 2020. The expensive state investigations, which ran from March 2021 to April 2023, didn’t corroborate any allegations in opposition to Haynes and Robinson or discover any wrongdoing on their components.
They mentioned the state didn’t enable them to defend themselves or rent a media firm to deal with destructive press throughout that point, and that “hostile” board members had been appointed with out following typical process or approval from Haynes. There was additionally a slew of complaints from former workers, at the very least one among which was dismissed, who had been let go due to a restructuring plan. These workers filed their lawsuit in 2023.
By early 2024, Haynes and Robinson had been suspended and positioned on paid administrative go away amid yet one more investigation into allegations in opposition to them, performed by Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP on the behest of the state. Within the interim, RIOC operations had been overseen by Chief Monetary Officer (CFO) and Vice President Dhruvika Patel Amin and Assistant Vice President & Deputy Common Counsel Gerrald Ellis, who ended up resigning in 2024.
In a governance committee assembly on Sept. 6, 2024, the topic of terminating Haynes “for trigger” and Robinson “simply because it didn’t work out” was broached publicly. A number of members shortly mentioned the topic ought to be mentioned privately in government session. Committee Chair Lydia Tang and Board Member Ben Fhala mentioned it was not being addressed and known as for the board to completely vote on the firings. Fhala insisted, within the assembly, that the authorized charges, investigations, and go away prices couldn’t be sustained.
Fhala once more broached the topic of firing Haynes and Robinson in opposition to protocol and had a heated trade with board members at a gathering on Sept. 19, 2024. Just a few months later, in a particular assembly of the RIOC Board of Administrators on Nov. 19, 2024, the board moved to an government session to debate litigation and different issues concerned within the removing of an individual. No votes had been taken. Nevertheless, Fhala resigned shortly after that session.
Haynes and Robinson had been formally dismissed on Nov. 22, 2024. They maintained that they had been fired as a retaliation since no findings from the final investigation had been launched.
“It meant one thing to do the job and do the job effectively,” mentioned Haynes. “[T]hrough my total tenure as president, eight years whole there [and] I did 4 years as chief working officer, and never a single problem there. I grew to become president and the entire world fell out. We had been being attacked and investigated, and all this craziness, and nonetheless attaining record-breaking issues that remodeled the complete island.”
Robinson mentioned she’s actively pursuing new alternatives, however has had problem. “It’s a really sobering state of affairs to be right here,” she mentioned. “That is the primary time I’ve ever been fired in my life. I’ve labored in authorities for 20-plus years. The irony is that lots of people select the federal government for job safety and to do good work, and I really feel very wronged in what has occurred and the way I’ve been handled. To be terminated with out trigger for doing my job could be very, very uncomfortable. I’ve no insurance coverage, no revenue coming in. I’m doing my finest to verify I don’t lose the whole lot.”
Presently, Mary Cunneen is RIOC’s chief working officer (COO), Aida Morales is chief of workers, and Amin remains to be CFO and vice chairman.
When the Amsterdam Information requested Hochul’s workplace in regards to the RIOC state of affairs, they mentioned they “couldn’t touch upon pending litigation.”
The RIOC press workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark by press time.
