STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Despite a report from the NYC Department of Investigation (DOI) suggesting that Michael Ryan be fired or resign, the Staten Islander will continue to serve as the executive director of the Board of Elections.
According to the DOI’s investigation, which was made public on Wednesday, Ryan’s actions toward two BOE workers violated BOE’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) standards by creating a hostile work environment and engaging in harassing.
The study was finished in November, but it was released to the public on January 8, 2025.The DOI’s decision, which the BOE did not follow, was to either fire Ryan or have him resign.
In order to assure compliance with all NYC rules, regulations, and statutes on such topics, the BOE instead suspended him for three weeks (15 days) without pay from December 9 to December 31, 2024. He is also being required to attend sensitivity classes. He will also be placed on a one-year probationary period.
Prior to publication, Ryan failed to respond to Advance/SILive.com’s request for comment. The message the BOE posted on its official X account was referred to the Advance/SILive.com by another BOE employee.
Ryan wrote in the statement: I want to sincerely apologize to my family, my coworkers, and anybody else I may have inadvertently hurt. Even if I disagree with the report’s conclusion and contest these accusations, I respect the commissioners’ assessment of what is best for the agency.
What the DOI report says
According to a statement released by the BOE on X, the following alleged occurrences took place over a four-month period, and the DOI disclosed that the two BOE workers were women.
The first worker eventually quit her position at the BOE after claiming that she felt as though he was [supposedly] grooming her and that she was being singled out because of her ethnicity. According to the DOI report, this was in addition to other alleged remarks Ryan made about her gender and additional sexualized remarks.
According to the DOI investigation, in addition to the alleged verbal abuse, Ryan reportedly allegedly made inappropriate physical gestures that made the complainant very uncomfortable, including puckering his lips and caressing or attempting to touch her face with his hand.
According to the DOI report, the second employee allegedly heard Ryan make comments about her gender and ethnicity, including stereotyped generalizations about how people of her ancestry act or ought to act, as well as comments that were predicated on a gender stereotype.
The DOI report explained that although the first employee had raised the red flag regarding Ryan’s inappropriate remarks, the second employee revealed multiple instances during the investigation where Ryan made remarks about her gender and ethnicity that she felt were offensive, unwanted, and unwelcome.
Ryan responded to the accusations by acknowledging, in whole or in part, some of the alleged actions. According to the DOI investigation, he did, however, claim that he had no intention of harassing the first employee to leave the BOE and that the second employee had a reason to fabricate a story about being upset by his remarks.
Other than that, Ryan denied or stated that he could not remember any other alleged acts that are obviously unjustifiable, including puckering his lips in the direction of complainant 1 or trying to touch her face. DOI had no reason to suspect that complainant 2 was lying about being offended by Ryan’s remarks and actions, and it did not give credence to Ryan’s claims that he did not participate in or remember such behavior. According to the DOI assessment, Ryan’s assertion that he had no intention of harassing the complainants is dubious because it was presented in a way that gave him an incentive to lie.
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