“Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction is DENIED,” the U.S. Southern District Court said last week. RIOC President/CEO Shelton J. Haynes and Chief Counsel Gretchen had asked for a Temporary Restraining Order forcing the state to return them to their jobs and end all investigations into their conduct, now and in the future. They were, they said, victims of racism and retaliation.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Full Disclosure: Haynes and Robinson have made this writer a central player in their narrative.
Plaintiffs allege that since Haynes’s promotion, both he and Robinson, as well as other African American RIOC executives, have been attacked and harassed because of their race… Plaintiffs allege that one form of harassment comes from David Stone, a local independent blogger (and non-party to this action), who has written several articles about RIOC’s staff and executives, often using racially charged language.
Plaintiffs allege that the racist backlash Stone has expressed has purportedly been supported by local elected officials.
Opinion and Order, U.S. Southern District of New York
While we find these claims Trump-level nonsense, we can add that at no time has either Haynes or Robinson protested to us or demanded a correction. On the contrary, this writer twice approached Haynes about opening up to freer conversations that might help improve coverage. Haynes did not respond.
The Claims and Why They Were Denied
As the alleged racial attacks on them increased, Haynes and Robinson sought support from the Governor’s office. When that failed, the pair sued a variety of state officials and one RIOC board member in September 2023.
They claimed that vast racial discrimination subjected them to unprecedented scrutiny and investigations, thereby making it impossible to do their jobs.
“RIOC’s executive staff periodically sends the Chamber weekly reports, which have detailed the impact that Stone’s attacks on RIOC’s minority employees have had on RIOC’s morale,” the court quoted.
“Plaintiffs allege that, to date, the Chamber and certain individuals working at the Chamber
have done nothing to assist minority employees of RIOC, and, instead, have aided and abetted the racist campaign against Haynes, Robinson, and other RIOC minority employees.”
Thereafter, RIOC board member and Audit Committee Chair Howard Polivy received a string of unsolicited complaints about Haynes and Robinson. We’ll go into those details in a future article, but for now, Polivy simplified the general tone of the complaints as “fear.”
After these accumulated, RIOC asked that the board suspend Haynes and Robinson with pay while an independent law firm investigated. There was concern over allegations that the pair interfered with employee communications through numerous devices. Phone calls were monitored, employees were geo-tracked and video-monitored using cameras overseen by Public Safety Officers, they said.
Suspended, Haynes and Robinson filed for a Temporary Restraining Order and an injunction, claiming damage to their reputations and future work prospects. They also said their suspensions were retaliation for their filing their lawsuit.
The Result
The court was having none of it.
“The Court need not address the likelihood of success on the merits for Plaintiffs’ claims, because the Court finds that Plaintiffs have failed to establish likelihood of irreparable harm, which is ‘an absolute requirement for a preliminary injunction.’”
“On the record before it, the Court cannot find that Plaintiffs have shown irreparable harm.As such, Plaintiffs’ Motion for a Preliminary Injunction is DENIED.
The denial was signed by United States District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil.
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