By Emilie Munson | Times Union, Albany
Albany, N.Y. — In an email to employees Monday night, New York Gaming Commission Chairman Brian O’Dwyer denied the state agency operated a hostile work environment and insisted a Times Union article about workplace issues there “aired complaints designed to paint our agency in a bad light.”
“I believe commission employees hold themselves to the highest standards,” O’Dwyer wrote in an email obtained by the Times Union. “As a labor/human rights lawyer for over 50 years, I take very seriously the well-being of my colleagues at the Gaming Commission.”
The Times Union reported employees at the commission, which is tasked with regulating gambling entities, say they have experienced a toxic workplace for years, including allegations of sexual harassment, racial discrimination, bullying, drug use and political favoritism.
The commission is fighting at least four lawsuits alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, race, disability and related retaliation, while it recently settled two age-discrimination cases and a case purporting sexual and race-based harassment. The state Office of Employee Relations, which investigates allegations of workplace discrimination, has received 41 complaints from Gaming Commission employees since December 2018 and substantiated 10 of them. In response, the commission took appropriate administrative action where warranted, the office said.
In addition, 20 employees — some former employees and others still with the agency — said in interviews with the Times Union they’ve experienced those issues at work, some on an ongoing basis. Three additional former employees contacted the newspaper since Sunday to relay similar accounts.
O’Dwyer, in his email to employees, sent instructions on how employees can report discrimination, directions which are sent to employees each month.
“When questionable or bad behavior is reported, it is taken seriously, and promptly and appropriately…
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