Boston Mayor Wu dismisses name for Metropolis Corridor relationship probe, after allegations floor in opposition to prime aide

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu defended the inner evaluation course of that led to the firings of two Metropolis Corridor staffers concerned in a home dispute, amid allegations by one of many staffers who claimed she was fired to guard a prime Wu aide who had propositioned her, to be able to keep away from an election yr scandal for the mayor.

A day after sexual harassment allegations in opposition to the town’s Chief of Financial Alternative and Inclusion Segun Idowu surfaced in a Boston Globe report, Wu beat again strategies that the town ought to provoke an impartial probe into the matter, regardless of calls from at the least two metropolis councilors.

Wu stated as a substitute that her administration had already accomplished an inside evaluation round that “particular employment situation.” Her workplace had beforehand acknowledged the evaluation “found no violations of laws or city workforce policies by any other city employees,” apart from the 2 who have been fired.

“I am aware of what’s been reported and aware of the internal review that has been done,” Wu informed reporters Tuesday after an unrelated occasion. “There had not been a report of this kind filed beforehand or made conscious to the town of Boston previous to the information report popping out.

“But anytime the city of Boston receives any kind of allegation or report or suggestion that there has been improper behavior by a city employee, we conduct a review,” the mayor added.

Requested whether or not the newly reported harassment allegations made by Marwa Khudaynazar, the town’s ex-chief of employees for the Workplace of Police Accountability and Transparency, would immediate her to name for or assist an impartial investigation into the matter, Wu didn’t reply, however defended the town’s inside HR procedures.

Metropolis Corridor has present infrastructure in place, she stated, that has been “built out,” “staffed up,” and revamped over the previous three years to analyze complaints and allegations with a “clear set of protocols and systems in place to make sure that we are holding employees to the highest standards.”

“The internal review was completed around a particular employment situation that was triggered by knowledge of a police report and confirmed the city’s understanding that there was an invoking of official status as city employee to try to prevent the consequences of a police interaction,” the mayor stated.

“That is not acceptable for any city employee to ever say that because of their status as city employees, they should be shielded from accountability. There had not been any additional reports received of other types of complaints at that time.”

A Boston police report taken for the alleged home dispute that occurred final month and led to the terminations of two metropolis staff didn’t identify Idowu, however did point out that the dispute was triggered by dishonest allegations.

Khudaynazar, 27, and Chulan Huang, 26, ex-neighborhood enterprise supervisor for the Workplace of Financial Alternative and Inclusion, have been fired final month, after their alleged involvement in a home dispute at Huang’s Chinatown house.

Each have been arrested and charged with home assault. Khudaynazar was additionally charged with assault on a police officer. Each have pleaded not responsible.

The police report quotes Huang as saying of Khudaynazar, “She went on a date with my boss. And then they booked a hotel and she came here to rub it in my face.”

When contacted this week, Huang and Khudaynazar declined to remark by the Herald’s deadline.

Khudaynazar informed the Globe that Idowu propositioned her, and that his alleged advances are what prompted the altercation with Huang. She additionally informed the outlet that investigators by no means requested her about Idowu’s alleged advances.

She additional informed the Globe that the rationale given for her and Huang’s termination, that that they had allegedly invoked their jobs at Metropolis Corridor to keep away from accountability, was a misunderstanding.

Idowu denied Khudaynazar’s harassment allegations by a press release from his legal professional, Jeffrey Robbins, who additionally represents the Herald.

Robbins stated metropolis officers did interview Idowu as a part of their investigation “and no finding of any improper, unethical or inappropriate conduct on his part was made, because he engaged in none.”

“Any suggestion by anyone that Mr. Idowu engaged in any form of sexual harassment whatsoever would be pure and unadulterated bullshit, and defamatory bullshit at that,” Robbins stated.

After the mayor’s remarks on Tuesday, Metropolis Councilors Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy filed an emergency listening to order that they plan to introduce at Wednesday’s assembly, to “call for an independent investigation into City Hall terminations, retaliation claims and supervisory conduct.”

The councilors’ listening to order states that Khudaynazar has “alleged that her firing was retaliatory, resulting from her rejection of inappropriate advances by a senior administration official who invited her to meet him at a hotel.”

“She further alleges that her internal attempts to raise these concerns were ignored, and that she was ultimately terminated to shield him from accountability,” the councilors wrote. “The Mayor’s Workplace has publicly acknowledged that each staff have been terminated solely because of the incident itself and that an inside evaluation discovered no wrongdoing by Segun Idowu.