Ex-MSG black usher sues for wrongful termination despite allegedly hiding sex offender status

In article <[email protected]>
i'm fucked <[email protected]> wrote:

An ex-con who worked briefly as an usher at Madison Square Garden is 
suing James Dolan’s company for wrongful termination — despite being 
a registered sex offender who the arena claims “falsified his 
background check information.”

Stevie P. Robinson, 59, who was out on parole after serving 20 years 
for raping a 6-year-old girl, was canned last year from his “dream 
job,” according to the lawsuit against the arena’s parent company, 
MSG Entertainment, filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.

Robinson had passed the company’s background check and was hired in 
December 2021 to work as an usher at the World’s Most Famous Arena, 
the complaint said.

The complaint stated that Robinson “was never advised or told that 
there was any problem” with the background check.

MSG officials became suspicious after Robinson’s parole officer 
contacted his employers in August 2022 to verify that he was 
fulfilling his obligations to attain gainful employment as per the 
terms of his post-release supervision, the complaint said.

He was fired that month, according to the complaint.

“Stevie Robinson is a convicted sexual offender and falsified his 
background check information to obtain employment with MSG, which 
came to light while he was being terminated for violating company 
policy, including inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” a Garden 
rep told The Post.

The spokesperson declined to provide details on the alleged 
violation of company policy.

His lawyers alleged that MSG broke state and city law by terminating 
Robinson “solely on the basis of a past criminal conviction” even 
though it “had no direct relationship to” his job as an usher.

Robinson is seeking unspecified damages.

The Post has sought comment from Robinson’s attorneys.

Being an usher was Robinson’s “dream job,” he was “a big fan of the 
New York Knicks” and “had been patronizing MSG all of his life, as a 
fan,” according to the lawsuit.

Robinson “suffered from disabilities” including attention deficit 
hyperactivity disorder, according to the filing.

The complaint alleged that Robinson would report to MSG’s “staff 
office” in order to “seek assistance…with his job functions” 
including “technical and scheduling issues” because “he could not 
understand how to do certain things” due to this condition.

But after the call from the parole officer, arena employees “created 
a posting or document” with his photo and details of his sex 
offender past, it was alleged in the complaint.

Robinson had served two decades behind bars at Sing Sing 
Correctional Facility after his November 2000 conviction for sodomy 
and sexual abuse of the young girl, according to New York State 
prison records.

The MSG employees circulated a document which contained “bold and 
all caps” letters that read “BOLO” — or “Be On the Look Out” — in 
order to “discriminate against” him and to “humiliate” him “solely 
due to his alleged past criminal conviction,” according to the 
lawsuit.

The “BOLO” document warned MSG employees that Robinson “is a 
registered sexually violent offender with a high-risk level,” it was 
alleged in the complaint.

MSG employees, “dozens” of whom are alleged to have seen the 
document, were urged to contact Garden security “if the subject is 
seen on or near venue property,” according to the complaint.

In August 2022, Robinson alleged that a Garden security team member 
“advised” him that he “should not enter the staff office if [he] did 
not need to.”

Despite the instruction, Robinson continued “to visit the staff 
office when he needed work-related assistance” because he “did not 
know where else to get the assistance he needed,” the filing said.

Robinson believes that MSG used his entering the staff office as a 
pretext to fire him, according to the complaint.

“We are aware of the lawsuit and believe that facts will support a 
conclusion that his claims are wholly without merit,” the MSG rep 
said.

https://nypost.com/2023/10/26/business/msg-sued-for-wrongful-
termination-by-registered-sex-offender/