New York State Shaming Commission
An article in Times Union this week shed light on what former employees described as a “toxic” work environment within the New York State Gaming Commission.
The article details how “sexual harassment, racial discrimination, bullying and political favoritism” have plagued the Empire State’s gambling regulator in recent years.
Examples include signs featuring the Ku Klux Klan hanging on the wall of the Commision’s headquarters, while the regulator is also currently embroiled in “at least four lawsuits alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, race, disability and related retaliation.”
New York state’s Office of Employee Relations has apparently received 41 complaints from Gaming Commission employees since December 2018, of which 10 have been substantiated.
The regulator has taken appropriate administrative action in response, the office said.
For former employees, however, the damage has already been done.
One former assistant counsel suggested that after her spell at the commission, “I can never work in state service again under the same leadership.”
Meanwhile, a former auditor in the commission’s lottery division described it as “the most toxic organisation in the state,” with others calling the workplace “a nightmare”, “dysfunctional” and “hostile”.
As a result, “staff turnover is overwhelming” within the regulator, one commenter suggested, while the Times Union’s article features a laundry list of additional complaints.
For its part, the regulator hit back suggesting “[New York Governor] Hochul has made clear that there’s no place for harassment and abuse in her administration, and since taking office in 2021 she has taken significant action to implement new policies, trainings and workplace protections that support and protect the state workforce.”
Readers are encouraged to check out the full list of accusations for themselves.
