New York State Athletic Commission Hit with Lawsuit Alleging Unpaid Wages, Racial Discrimination

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Two former New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) inspectors claim in a proposed collective action that they were discriminated against based on their race and denied proper wages and breaks.

Per the 28-page lawsuit, inspectors and other hourly paid NYSAC employees were not paid minimum wage for every hour worked, applicable overtime rates when they worked more than 40 hours in a week, and spread-of-hours pay when they worked more than 10 hours in a day. Moreover, workers were denied proper meal and rest breaks and untimely paid one or two months after submitting their timesheets, the complaint claims.

The two plaintiffs, who are both Black Americans, allege they were retaliated against and eventually terminated “based on false pretenses.” The suit alleges the plaintiffs were denied promotions, harassed and removed from places of public accommodation where they were legally and peacefully present, and fired on the basis of their race and for speaking out against their alleged mistreatment.

The 28-page lawsuit names as defendants the New York State Athletic Commission; Kim Sumbler, NYSAC’s executive director; and Anthony Giardina, a former NYSAC commissioner. According to the case, NYSAC hosts and oversees spectator boxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA) events. Inspectors, such as the plaintiffs, are responsible for escorting athletes from their arrival at the event space through their departure from the venue and ensuring they are properly tested and examined by NYSAC doctors after each event, the suit says.

The lawsuit alleges the plaintiffs and other inspectors typically worked at least one event per week from approximately 3:00 PM to 1:00 AM or 2:30 AM the following day. Per the case, the workers were consistently paid below New York City’s minimum wage rate, which ranged from $10.50 per hour in 2015 to $15 per hour by 2018, and typically received their paychecks on an “arbitrary” one- to two-month basis despite the manual nature of their jobs. Moreover, the lawsuit alleges the defendants “willfully failed” to pay proper overtime and spread-of-hours wages and denied inspectors appropriate meal and rest breaks in accordance with state and federal law.

The lawsuit alleges that Sumbler, “motivated by racial and gender animus,” repeatedly denied promotions to the first plaintiff, who worked as a NYSAC boxing inspector between 2004 and April 2018, and eventually terminated the woman based on “a false pretext” that she had violated safety protocols that were “arbitrarily changed right before the subject event started without any prior notice whatsoever.” Giardina, the lawsuit alleges, “repeatedly demeaned and harassed” the plaintiff by ordering her to “sit in the back” at boxing events despite knowing she needed to sit ringside as an inspector. The lawsuit claims the plaintiff was terminated in April 2018 in retaliation for submitting a complaint to the New York State Inspector General’s office about racial and gender discrimination she experienced.

The second plaintiff worked as an inspector from 2015 until he was fired in March 2017 on the “false pretext” that he had “threatened to blow up the building,” the lawsuit claims. The case alleges defendant Sumbler “weaponized” two state troopers to show up to the plaintiff’s house on several occasions to “intimidate, coerce and harass” the plaintiff for an apparent “threat” that he never made.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that the defendants “arbitrarily and capriciously” denied the second plaintiff’s boxer training license renewal application and hindered both plaintiffs from becoming boxing judges by implementing a two-year ban on employment with NYSAC that applied only to Black inspectors. The first plaintiff alleges that in her 14 years of employment, there were less than five Black inspectors employed by NYSAC at a given time and no full-time Black inspectors. According to the suit, the NYSAC “has a long history of racial discrimination against Black American boxers that continues unabated to date.”

The lawsuit claims the “oppressive environment” imposed on the plaintiffs and other employees has caused them mental anguish and entitles them to compensatory and punitive damages.

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