Nationwide — Hans Vestberg, the current CEO of Verizon who famously said to fight against racism and who gave an impassioned speech after the murder of George Floyd, is now being sued along with Verizon Corp for allegedly violating the most basic civil rights of an African American employee. Dwight Murray, a former Central Office Technician First Responder, alleges a pattern and practice of discrimination which included deprivation of his civil rights and that his wife, denial of due process while engaged in a governmental process, and a continuous hostile atmosphere resulting in Mr. Murray’s constructive dismissal in 2022.
In 2012, after settling a retaliation complaint represented by the late Michael Hardy, (cofounder of the National Action Network), Mr. Murray had the majority of the small court settlement stolen from the joint bank account he shared with his wife. Prior to this, Mr. Murray’s coworkers had expressed concern to management about being able to access Mr. Murray’s personal information via work terminals using their own passwords. This information included his date of birth, social security number, home address, paychecks, W2s, bank account used for direct deposit, 401k, spousal information, health information, etc. Allegedly, the work terminals in the question of a suspected breach were then removed prior to Verizon internal security being able to investigate the terminals as part of a rarely if ever seen “reclamation project”. Rep. Keith Wright of Harlem, advocated on behalf of Mr Murray regarding the lack of transparency, to no avail.
After the bank theft, Mr. Murray says that he reported the incident with his wife to the NYPD and then went to the NYSAG Harlem Office for mediation with Verizon. Mr. Todd Schulman, Safety Compliance Security Officer for Verizon, was placed in charge of the “investigation” and then allegedly removed all records of Mr. Murray’s NYSAG mediation complaint he had filed. The paperwork on the NYSAG documents alleges that since Mr. Murray was a Verizon, employee, Mr. Schulman would internally investigate the matter, denying Mr. Murray and his wife the right of self-protection under the Breach and Notification Act (Shield Act).
Mr. Murray alleges that Mr Jason Cegielski Human Resources Director and subordinate to Mr Schulman, then fabricated the details surrounding the incident, putting words never said in Mr Murray’s mouth. From that point until his constructive dismissal in 2022, Mr Murray was targeted despite handling three times the workload of other coworkers covering the Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood area alone. Normally there are two technicians assigned per Central Office, Mr. Murray covered 3-5 central offices daily alone, while maintaining the unit numbers in underserved communities.
Despite this, Mr. Murray says he was illegally fired three years shy of his 30-year full pension, allegedly said to have quit his job for non-compliance with a driver’s license mandate. Mr. Murray was obtaining new paperwork from USCIS, notified Verizon Labor that he was in process, and yet was separated from payroll 3 months into an 8-month process for naturalization papers year 27. The NYS Dept Of Labor reversed Verizon’s determination and agreed he did not quit but had been fired. Upon obtaining his paperwork and renewing his license, Verizon never returned Mr Murray’s salary and he was told management wanted him to shut his mouth on his rehire. In Chelsea, once rehired in 2017, Mr. Murray noticed there were 8 technicans serving 2 buildings.
From that period, Mr. Murray alleges further hostile acts regarding his hours worked, access to his own personal financials, fake unexplained login portals in the workplace, and a theft of his W2 where the cameras, door access records, and a description of the possible thief were disregarded. He has sent CEO McAdams and CEO Vestberg dozens of emails as the conditions worsened. Assemblyman Daniel Odonnell has written to Verizon on Mr. Murray’s behalf for 13 years with no response, Chabrowe Law Firm paid Mr. Murray out of pocket.
As a private US citizen, he is still experiencing numerous issues with his cell service reported to Applecare, various carriers, the FBI IC3, The NYSAG Internet Bureau, The Manhattan DA, and the USDOJ. He seeks damages for severe emotional issues, damage to his marriage, and mental health problems (depression, anxiety, PTSD, inability to protect himself or his wife) adversely affecting his life to this day.
For more details about the case, please send an email to pressblack8@proton.me
Source: BlackNews.com
