By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-02-01 17:43:03 | Updated at 2025-02-01 20:43:52
3 hours ago
Jumaane Williams, Public Advocate, speaking at the National Action Networks in Harlem on the state of New York City and legal issues surrounding Mayor Eric Adams
G.N.Miller/NYPost
New York City’s public advocate is flunking sex ed.
More than half of the 704 staffers in Jumaane Williams’ office did not complete an anti-sexual harassment training course, according to a new report from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
DCAS found 63 city agencies trained at least 95% of their staff — of which 47 departments achieved 100% compliance. The citywide completion rate was 85%, according to findings released late Friday.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ office mostly did not complete the city’s sexual harassment training course. Getty Images for StartCareThe public advocate’s office, however, had a dismal 44% compliance rate — by far the lowest of any major city office.
Other lagging agencies included the Department of Education (69%) and the Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine’s office (67%)
Brad Lander’s city comptroller’s office had an 85% completion rate, while the the mayor’s office was at 100%, according to DCAS.
The training to combat workplace sexual harassment ran from Sept. 1, 2023 to Aug. 31, 2024, according to the DCAS report.
The office of Mayor Adams had a 100% compliance rate with the training. Getty ImagesSince becoming public advocate in 2019, Democrat Williams has often publicly proclaimed himself to be a champion of fighting sexual harassment.
“We stand unequivocally with New Yorkers fighting back against workplace sexual harassment,” he said in a March 2021 post to X to kick off women’s history month.
He lackadaisical approach to training his staff is all the more awkward given his own personal history. In 2009 a fight between Williams and his then-girlfriend escalated to the point where cops were called and he was arrested. And his campaign employed, or was endorsed by, so many people accused of sexual misconduct, his opponent Melissa Mark-Viverito called it a “sanctuary for men who are predators.”
Queens Democratic Councilman Bob Holden called the entire public advocate office “dysfunctional and quite frankly unnecessary.”
Williams did not respond to request for comment from The Post.
Kayla Mamelak Altus, a spokeswoman for Mayor Adams, said, “Mayor Adams and the Mayor’s Office take sexual harassment — and our legal obligations to conduct sexual harassment prevention training — extremely seriously, which is why 100 percent of our office completed this training on time. We will continue working with city agencies to ensure that this training reaches all of our municipal workforce.”
