Parks Department Workers Stripped at Holiday Parties for Better Jobs: Report

The Department of Investigation said it is looking into the holiday parties, as well as several sexual harassment complaints involving the agency

Part-time workers at the city's Parks Department stripped and pole-danced at agency holiday parties in exchange for permanent jobs, and several female staffers allege routine sexual harassment by their supervisors, according to complaints and texts under review by city investigators, the Daily News reported Wednesday.

The Department of Investigation said it is looking into the holiday parties, during which male workers allegedly urged female colleagues to strip down to their underwear and dance on poles for tips and the hope of better paying jobs.

The raucous affairs date back to at least 2009 and had recently begun to spin "out of control," one worker told the News. 

Another worker told the paper a man at last year's Christmas party yelled, "If you want a job, get on the pole." 

Other men allegedly stuffed dollar bills down their colleagues' pants as they danced on the makeshift "strip stage."

In addition to the parties, city investigators said they are reviewing multiple sexual harassment complaints against the agency.

In one case, a female parks worker alleged her male supervisor cornered her in the elevator and licked her stomach. Another alleged her bosses sent inappropriate texts and subjected her to unwanted contact that included snapping her bra straps, reports the News. 

A Parks Department spokesman said the workers who filed the harassment complaints were transferred at their request and the department referred the matter to the Department of Investigation. 

Joe Puleo, the committee chair for the parks workers union, said, "This is typical of Parks when it comes to exploitation."

"Now it seems like they took it one step further. Now they entered the sex trade."

"There are other supervisors that have conducted similar things," Puleo claimed. "Having women do things they shouldn't be doing, like wearing certain types of outfits, mostly like lingerie outfits, while working in these facilities." 

The male supervisors named in the complaints did not respond to the News' requests for comment. Both were transferred pending the outcome of the investigation.

-- Brynn Gingras contributed to this report. 

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