Two city Housing Authority employees have been suspended without pay for 30 days as the investigation continues into prurient activities at a Bronx public housing project.
A city official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to discuss ongoing investigations, said staff members are being investigated to determine whether or not they were having sex on the job in the housing project — specifically in a shed used by employees.
A supervisor and a caretaker at the housing complex were both suspended for a month, the maximum amount of time they can be disciplined under civil service law.
The caretaker was possibly involved in inappropriate activities at the housing complex, while the supervisor of grounds was aware and facilitated the behavior, according to a city official.
All 40 employees assigned to the Bronx housing project were transferred earlier this week as part of the ongoing investigation, which started in May.
A spokesperson for New York City’s Housing Authority said that agency officials cannot comment on disciplinary actions because of civil service laws.
New York City housing officials first began investigating the scandalous allegations — which also include reports of drinking on the job and staff orgies – in June, according to the New York Daily News.
The president of the Bronx housing project’s tenant association told the New York Post earlier this week that round-the-clock sexual shenanigans among city staffers slowed or stalled vital repair projects at the housing facility.
The illicit activity allegedly occurred on “overtime, during working hours, after working hours, any day or any time of the day,” Throggs Neck Houses Tenant Association President Monique Johnson told the Post. “I now understand why work wasn’t getting done.”
“There was a lot of people included,” Johnson told The Post. “Supervisors were allegedly having sexual relations with caretakers. There was drinking and sexual acts going on…More playing, and less working.”
Earlier this summer, the city authority and Mayor Bill de Blasio entered into a consent decree with federal prosecutors that requires the appointment of a federal monitor, following a damning report filed by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, which detailed how New York City housing officials lied and covered up lead paint and toxic mold issues plaguing the city’ 176,000 public housing units.
The sex scandal is just the latest black eye for a municipal agency that has faced seemingly constant scrutiny and criticism in recent months.
More than 400,000 New Yorkers reside in city public housing facilities.
