Jewish workers with the city Health Department are barred from forming an internal group to provide resources for each other, even though “indigenous peoples” and LGBTQ+ colleagues are not, a lawsuit says.
asserted
lawsuit → bar → other
The seven plaintiff employees also claimed the agency under Mayor Zohran Mamdani opened a retaliatory investigation into them when they used their internal email to publicly mourn Jews killed at a Hanukah gathering in Australia last year, according to the bombshell 110-page complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.
uncertain
they → claim → court
“The city told its Jewish employees that every identity counts except theirs, then investigated them for grieving,” said Mark Goldfeder, the CEO of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, which filed the suit on behalf of the workers.
asserted
which → tell → workers
“City Hall can hold whatever opinions it likes about the Jewish state; it cannot make hostility to the Jewish people a condition of working for New York.”
asserted
hostility → hold → York
The Health Department runs an Employee Resource Group, or ERG, program that provides recognized groups with an agency email account, a SharePoint page, a place on the agency calendar and a $5,000 annual budget.
asserted
that → run → calendar
The complaint alleges that DOH supervisors rejected the proposed Jewish group, HINENU — which in Hebrew means, “Here we are” or, “Here I am” — on the grounds that it was religious in nature and that an ERG cannot be based on religious identity.
asserted
ERG → allege → identity
But the plaintiffs countered that HINENU’s charter would have been around Jewish peoplehood, ancestry, and culture and would not engage in religious worship, religious instruction or political advocacy.
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charter → counter → worship
Some of six ERGs that the agency has approved for recognition involve the “indigenous peoples of Southwest Asia and North Africa” and the LGBTQ+ community, with the former touching on multiple religious identities in its own charter, the complaint said.
asserted
complaint → approve → charter
“In this denial, the agency acted on the antisemitic trope that denies the existence of Am Yisrael – the People of Israel – an essential element of Jewish identity, which persists regardless of religious observance,” the National Jewish Advocacy Center said in its statement accompanying the lawsuit.
asserted
Center → act → lawsuit
DOH Equal Employment Opportunity Director Sye-Eun Ahn then ordered the group to “desist” from using its email account, the complaint said.
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complaint → order → account
The complaint alleges the EEO director then opened an investigation of the Jewish group leaders for engaging in “racial and religious discrimination,” grilling them about their beliefs concerning Zionism and Israel.
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director → allege → Zionism
The agency closed the case after it was “unable to make findings,” the suit said.
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suit → close → findings
Shortly thereafter, the same EEO official again rejected HINENU’s application for recognition as a group, citing HINENU’s allegedly religious nature.
uncertain
official → reject → nature
Employees created a “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group” that accused Israel of committing genocide, The Post reported in February.
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Post → create → February
They met in the middle of the workday — with members gathering at the department’s headquarters in Long Island City, as well as remotely.
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members → meet → City
“We really developed in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” a presenter reading from the group’s mission statement said near the beginning of the meeting.
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presenter → develop → meeting
The complaint said a “sustained pattern of hostile programming” against Israel from the agency’s “equity” offices started after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on the Jewish state, including posters, flyers and slogans displayed at workstations without connection to the agency’s public health mission.
asserted
pattern → say → mission
The anti-Zionist hostility has been “encouraged” by the official policy and Israel-bashing public statements of Mamdani since he took over as mayor in January, the suit said.
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suit → encourage → January
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages for alleged discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment and violation of equal protection under federal, state and city laws.
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suit → seek → laws
A Health Department rep told The Post, “We are reviewing the lawsuit.”
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We → tell → lawsuit
The Aporia
