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U.S. NEWS Monday 30 SepteMber 2019
State protects abusers, women

harassed in public jobs say

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — He months he was on unpaid An investigation by the USA
was accused of call- suspension. Today Network's Albany
ing his female co-workers Dominie, 45, declined to Bureau last year used open
"whores," grabbing one comment for this article. He records requests to iden-
woman's head and forcing told The Associated Press tify more than $11 million
it between his legs, threat- last winter that he hadn't in taxpayer-funded legal
ening another with sexual touched anyone inappro- settlements in the past de-
assault and exposing him- priately or exposed himself. cade with workers, almost
self in the office. But he acknowledged en- all women, who had com- In this Jan. 19, 2019 photo, participants gather at a rally orga-
Now, more than a year gaging in "horse playing" plained of harassment or nized by Women's March NYC in New York.
after he was suspended, and said he didn't think sexual assault. Associated Press
Chad Dominie may be re- anyone would be offend- "It's not one bad apple, it's
turning to work as an ad- ed. a bad orchard," said Rita phone message seeking and didn't move to fire him
ministrative assistant for "I tell her to 'shut her whore Pasarell, an attorney and comment. until the police were called,
New York's Office for Peo- mouth' and I'm the big vil- member of the Sexual Ha- The state could try to ap- Tromblee said. Dominie,
ple with Developmental lain?" he said in February. rassment Working Group, peal the arbitrator's deci- who made $41,000 a year
Disabilities after an arbitra- Advocates say Dominie's an organization of one- sion. A spokeswoman for before his suspension, was
tor rejected the state's at- case is all too common, time legislative staffers who the Office for People with arrested and ultimately
tempt to fire him. though it's hard to know faced harassment from Developmental Disabilities pleaded guilty last year to
Harassment victims and how big the state's harass- their former bosses. said only that "Mr. Dominie a harassment violation —
their advocates say his re- ment problem is because Officials won't detail the has not returned to work less than a misdemeanor.
instatement would be an- of the lack of information 10 allegations against Do- as OPWDD reviews our op- Tromblee recounted epi-
other example of how the available to the public. minie or say which ones tions." sodes in which Dominie lift-
state is failing to protect There are no regular reports he was found guilty of. The Supervisors largely ignored ed her skirt, exposed himself
government workers from on the number of harass- arbitrator in the case, Mary months of complaints at her desk and reached
toxic workplaces. ment complaints made Crangle, did not return a about Dominie's conduct down her blouse.q
The state's protections for against state employees,
workers accused of mis- how many cases are sent
conduct are so strong, they to arbitration or how many
say, it can make it difficult employees are fired.
to fire men accused of gro- The No. 2 official at Domi-
tesque abuses. nie's agency, Jay Kiyona-
State laws designed to pro- ga, was fired last year after
tect workers from harass- the state inspector general
ment aren't effective if the uncovered "reprehensible"
state doesn't follow through harassment and sexually
in disciplining the employ- inappropriate acts going
ees responsible, said Mary back several years. He was
Tromblee, a nurse who was also accused of retaliating
one of the women who ac- against a female staffer
cused Dominie, said who spoke up about his
"Gov. Cuomo keeps saying behavior.
we have one of the stron- The state announced his
gest laws in the nation. But firing with a news release
what good are the laws if touting the state's aggres-
they're not enforced?" she sive handling of harass-
said. ment. Yet the same day,
A spokesman for Gov. An- he was quietly transferred
drew Cuomo, a Demo- back to his old agency,
crat, said his administra- the Justice Center for the
tion would "use every tool Protection of People with
at our disposal to ensure a Special Needs, thanks to
safe workplace" free from a state rule allowing some
harassment. managers to revert to a
"It is egregious that current prior state job if fired within
law makes getting rid of a year. The Justice Center,
bad actors so difficult," said which investigates mistreat-
spokesman Jason Conwall. ment of disabled people,
State workers in New York immediately suspended
are entitled to appeal dis- Kiyonaga, barred him from
ciplinary actions and can the office and moved to
often take their case to an terminate him.
arbitrator. Sixteen months later,
In Dominie's case, an arbi- though, Kiyonaga is still
trator found him guilty of making an annual salary of
four of 10 charges against $136,000 while he appeals
him but ruled he shouldn't his termination.
be fired. Instead, he won't Reached by phone, he de-
receive back pay for the 17 clined to comment.