By Sonali Chhibber
As you will read in the NY Times article today, Tuckner Sipser filed suit yesterday against Madison Square Garden and Cablevision Systems Corporation on behalf of our clients Diane Henson and Sheila Gay-Robbins. Once again MSG has proven that it has a wanton disregard for its female employees. The people in charge of MSG just do not care and apparently seem to constantly make bad judgments. As in the case of Anchua Browne-Sanders vs MSG, our clients’ complaints were dismissed without trying to resolve the problem. Our clients were discriminated against based on their gender, race and color, and they were retaliated against and treated even worse after they complained. Diane Henson and Sheila Gay-Robbins have several years of work experience at Madison Square Garden. Two years ago, when two white males named Kirk Randazzo and Joseph DiCoco became their bosses at MSG, their jobs had started to change for the worse. Both were given mediocre and extended work hours, and extra work. Moreover, they were even passed over for promotions and better assignments in favor of their less experienced Caucasian male counterparts. Their white male counterparts also got paid more money, were given better hours, and other received other benefits. Most of the minority employees including our clients were mostly segregated to assignments in less than desirable areas. Additionally, Gay-Robbins and Henson were falsely penalized for things that they did not do. They complained but no one cared. It’s absolutely appalling that Henson and Gay-Robbins who have considerable amount of work experience at Madison Square Garden were subjected to this brazen disparate treatment. Imagine if you were working at a job for 11 years and you were good at the job, and everything changes once you get two new bosses who decide they are going to penalize you based on your sex and skin color.
The best thing about NY is the rich culture and diversity prevalent in the city. It’s very distressing that the men in power were just interested in hiring other young white counterparts at Madison Square Garden. Gay-Robbin’s and Henson’s careers have been irreversibly damaged at MSG. It must be profoundly upsetting to Henson and Gay-Robbins, who have been hardworking and diligent employees with several years of experience, to find themselves in this position due to workplace unfairness. It leads me to ask these questions. Why is Madison Square Garden dismissing this city’s human rights laws? How does Madison Square Garden view their minority female employees? Should we think about this the next time we choose to watch a game at Madison Square Garden? I know I will. Luckily my favorite teams are located in NJ