Overview
- Ebony Huntley filed a civil suit Thursday in New York state court claiming she was terminated a day after she sent an anonymous employee complaint to the city’s Department of Investigation.
- The complaint she forwarded alleged a prior intimate relationship between Commissioner Sharun Goodwin and the agency’s general counsel, Wayne McKenzie, which staff said created a conflict of interest.
- Huntley says she tried to deliver the complaint in person March 26, then emailed it when walk-ins were not accepted, and she alleges McKenzie fired her in a remote meeting the next day after noting he was named in it.
- The lawsuit seeks reinstatement, back pay, front pay, and damages, and says Huntley lost a pending raise from about $83,000 to roughly $170,000 and is owed about $200,000 in unpaid wages.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday that the allegations are under investigation and the city’s watchdog said it is aware, and the claims remain unproven as scrutiny grows following Goodwin’s January appointment.