*1 Petitioners appeal from the judgment of the Supreme Court, New York County (Alice Schlesinger, J.), entered October 31, 2016, denying the petition to vacate an arbitration award, confirming the award, and dismissing the proceeding.*2
Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels In this article 75 proceeding, petitioners seek to vacate a determination by an arbitrator under a collective bargaining agreement that set aside a determination by petitioners that Tony Aiken had committed sexual harassment, and ordered his termination. Although expressly agreeing with the pertinent factual findings in the investigation report of petitioners’ Office of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) — including findings that Aiken had stated to a colleague that if he had a woman like her he would stay in bed all day and “oil her down” — the arbitrator nonetheless, and incredibly and inconsistently with his own findings, ruled that the conduct did not “rise to the level” of sexual harassment. We now reverse.In late 2012, Tulani Melendez, a bus dispatcher who worked at the same bus depot as Aiken, submitted a 13-page handwritten complaint to petitioners’ EEO describing numerous unwanted advances and sexually inappropriate comments by Aiken, a union delegate and bus operator under her supervision. Melendez asserted that in retaliation for rebuffing his advances, Aiken humiliated her in front of others and countermanded her express directions to subordinates.The EEO conducted an investigation, interviewing Melendez, Aiken, another bus operator who also reported being harassed by Aiken, as well as numerous dispatchers, bus operators, two managers, and a union representative. A number of these individuals corroborated Melendez’s account of the harassment; none controverted her account.Melendez described numerous inappropriate statements and conduct, including remarks that Melendez was “sexy,” and asking if she were looking for another husband, coupled with an offer to act as her “sugar daddy.” On one occasion, as bus operators were reporting to Melendez for their assignments, Aiken remarked loudly, “Isn’t she fine? What would you do if you had a woman like her at home? I wouldn’t leave the house. I would stay in bed all day. I would oil her down.” On at least two occasions when they were in the crew room, Aiken placed his wallet on the ledge and said, in the presence of other operators, “I would give all of this for that [referring to Melendez].”Melendez claimed that Aiken’s conduct took place in front of others, and caused her to feel so humiliated and degraded that on November 11, 2012, she worked out of her car to avoid Aiken. When the harassment first began, Melendez tried to steer clear of Aiken; as the harassment continued, she repeatedly told him to stop and to leave her alone, to no avail.
