7/28/2019 Parks Employees Forced to Strip and Dance

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Parks employees forced to strip and dance

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/women-parks-dept-stripped-better-jobs-sources-article-1.1357067

Female Parks Department workers stripped for permanent jobs, more workat raunchy holiday parties: sources'It was out of control,' said a female worker who attended several ofthe parties. News of the shocking get-togethers, which date to atleast 2009, follows bombshell sexual harassment complaints.

BY GINGER ADAMS OTIS / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2013, 9:26 PM

At left, a Parks Department worker dances on a stripper's pole at a

city-owned Randalls Island facility. At right, another photo from oneof the parties. More recent ones featured groping, sources said.Someone allegedly demanded that workers get on the strip pole if theywanted jobs.A stripper pole, free-flowing booze and female city employeesperforming sexy tricks are just a few staples at raunchy holidayparties hosted by Parks Department supervisors.

Seasonal employees some disrobing down to their bras and panties tantalized as many as 10 men at a time during Christmas and New YearsEve celebrations going back to at least 2009, a Daily News

investigation found.

The clandestine parties were held in a so-called boom boom room at acity-owned facility on Randalls Island. And the seasonal workers whogot on the pole were rewarded with additional work or permanentjobs, sources told The News.

A female worker who attended several of the parties said they gotsteamier each year.

A worker who skipped one of the parties was asked to come by a femalecolleague.

The men started demanding a lot more. They were like, You want us togive you money, show us something, she recalled. And for the NewYears party, it got really grabby. Some women stripped to theirpanties and bras, and men were slapping asses. It was out of control.

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She asked not to be identified because she feared retaliation.

The city Department of Investigation launched a probe into the holidayparty shenanigans. It is also investigating bombshell sexualharassment complaints, including a womans allegation that a

supervisor accosted her when they were alone in an elevator. He liftedher shirt and ran his tongue across her stomach before shoving hisface in her crotch, according to the complaint.

Dilcy Benn, president of District Council 37 Local 1505, the unionthat represents the workers who filed complaints, said the departmentimmediately moved them. I will do anything to protect my members andfight for them," she said.

Another complained about sexually suggestive texts and inappropriatecontact from supervisors, including one who would snap her bra straps.

Parks and Recreation Department spokesman Arthur Pincus told The Newsthat the two female workers were transferred at their request.

On Wednesday, May 22, the Parks Department was made aware of sexualharassment allegations made by one full-time and one seasonal femaleparks worker against two male supervisors in the Five-BoroughTechnical Services division. Parks immediately referred the matter tothe Department of Investigation, he said.

RELATED: 13 PARKS DEPARTMENT WORKERS GET $165K SETTLEMENT

The two male supervisors named by the female workers are James Cafaro,a deputy chief of operations, and his supervisor, Angelo Figueroa,sources said. The men didnt respond to calls for comment. Both havebeen transferred pending the outcome of the investigation. Sourcessaid each has called out of work for the rest of the week.

Joe Marino/New York Daily NewsHigh-ranking Parks Department official James Cafaro, who is marriedwith children, shoved a $20 bill in the pants of one worker at one ofthe sleazy parties, sources said.

For years, as the official holiday party took place on the secondfloor of the low-level Parks Department building, Cafaro, Figueroa,another male supervisor and several other male workers would set upthe X-rated recreation a flight below, sources said.

The crew fashioned a temporary strippers pole out of a huge wirespool and pieces of wood left in the telecommunications room. A short

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ladder was set up to allow access to the pole platform, and once thebooze started flowing, women were encouraged to climb up.

According to one female worker, a man at last years Christmas partyyelled: If you want a job, get on the pole.

Many of the female workers in the Parks Department are low-incomesingle mothers desperate for the work.

Cafaro, 53, married with children, started in the Parks Department in1986 and makes $103,864 a year. He moved steadily up the ladder butwas demoted in 1997 for an impropriety involving an agency employeeand a Parks vehicle. Details werent immediately available. In 2005 hereached his current mid-level management position.

He oversees about 80 workers, about 30 of them who toil at city parks.

Of those assigned to work at parks, most are women who clean pools,rake leaves or prepare properties for a given season, officials said.

RELATED: FORMER PARKS DEPARTMENT MANAGER NAILED FOR TAKINGBRIBES

I will do anything to protect my members, and fight for them. Whenthese women came forward we got them out, said Dilcy Benn, presidentof District Council 37 Local 1505, the union that represents theworkers who filed complaints. I brought this to (AssistantCommissioner) David Stark and to his credit within two minutes he madea phone call and moved them.

Cafaro laughed and enjoyed himself during at least three strip partiesin recent years, as two or three female staffers took turns performingon the pole to the hoots and hollers of other male supervisors andParks Department workers. He even shoved a $20 bill in the pants ofone worker, sources said.

Parks supervisor Angelo Figueroa is one of the men named in sexualharassment complaints. One female worker alleged that a supervisorwould pull her bra strap, and another said a supervisor who accostedher in an elevator lifted her shirt and ran his tongue across herstomach before shoving his face in her crotch.

One woman made a couple hundred bucks during one party and shared itwith her female colleagues, the sources said.

For the parties last December and New Years Eve, the men turned offthe overhead lights, set up up a disco strobe and came prepared with

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plenty of dollar bills, the sources said.

There was never a direct order from Cafaro or Figueroa for the womento participate, said Benn. But the seasonal workers get asked back forjobs or offered permanent positions based on the recommendations of

Cafaro and Figueroa, she said.

Many of the women are low-income single mothers, some of whom cameinto the job through the welfare system and are desperate to keep theseasonal positions that can run anywhere from four to six months at atime.

The most junior positions start at $9, and city seasonal workers, whoBenn represents, get $14 an hour. Cafaro tacitly encouraged women togo along with the suggestive atmosphere by rewarding those whostripped down to their skivvies and danced on the pole with more work,

Benn said.

The parties were said to be held in a "boom boom" room at a city-ownedfacility on Randalls Island.

One of the women, who started out as a temporary, six-month hire in2009, danced on the pole at that years Christmas party. But when sherebuffed Cafaros alleged sexual overture in the elevator, she wasntasked back for two years. When she returned in time for lastChristmas, she danced again at the annual party and got offered apermanent position.

Another worker, a single mother who refused to flirt with Cafaro,showed the Daily News text messages she said were exchanged betweenher and the deputy chief over the course of her six-month seasonal jobthat ended this month.

The texts range from creepy to overtly sexual.

In one exchange, Cafaro said he was going home.

Want to come with me? he texted.

The staffer declined.

Will u make it up to me? he wrote.

The worker didnt go to the boom boom room last Christmas, whichprompted another female colleague to text her to come down, addingthat she was at the strip party downstairs.

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The abuse within the Parks and Recreation Department isnt justsexual, Benn said. A female supervisor at Randalls Island who gavetraining about employee rights was caught on tape screaming that herjob wasnt to f---ing babysit staffers. The supervisor, identified

by sources as Kate Boland, then dared workers to call the union.

The move backfired, Benn said.

Our members were brave and called for us and we came, she said.