The city’s Finance Department hired a former NYC Housing Authority staffer last year just months after he was fired for requesting sexual favors from a public-housing tenant, The Post has learned.
The head-scratching hire of Stanley Hamler as a tax auditor in April 2016 — six months after he was terminated by NYCHA — came despite a Department of Investigation report confirming that he had acted inappropriately toward at least one female tenant in Queens.
Asked about Hamler’s disciplinary history, a Housing spokeswoman said, “NYCHA takes these matters very seriously. This type of behavior is unacceptable and he was terminated.”
But Finance spokeswoman Sonia Alleyne said that under city rules, there was no reason her agency couldn’t hire him.
“Based on NYC hiring procedures, being terminated from one agency is not an automatic bar to employment in another agency. DOI investigated the claims from NYCHA and reported to the housing agency that they found no criminal activity,” said Alleyne.
Hamler’s professional troubles began when a resident at Ocean Bay Apartments filed a complaint in early 2015 alleging that he had been “requesting sex from her in exchange for an apartment transfer,” according to the DOI report.
The woman “also alleged that Hamler had threatened her with eviction if she did not submit to his advances,” said the report, which was obtained by The Post via a Freedom of Information Law request.
The woman declined to cooperate with investigators and Hamler denied making any sexual advances, telling investigators he was simply trying to help her deal with an unauthorized tenant in her apartment.
But DOI’s probe of that incident led investigators to a similar complaint from another tenant at the apartment complex.
The second woman told investigators that Hamler had called her into his office in August 2014 because of late rent payments, and that as soon as she arrived, he asked if she was single.
“If you take care of me, I’ll take care of you,” she quoted him saying, according to the DOI report.
The woman said she felt uncomfortable and tried to leave the office, but Hamler allegedly “grabbed her hand and kissed her on the lips.”
The alleged victim said she filed a complaint with the 101st Precinct in Far Rockaway, Queens, which corroborated the filing to city investigators as a “harassment violation” that was subsequently closed.
The police report wasn’t enough for the district attorney to file charges, but it was enough for DOI to substantiate the second tenant’s claims.
Reached by phone, Hamler declined to comment other than to suggest he had been railroaded by NYCHA.
“It’s not as [simple] as it sounds. Certain situations are painful, are disrespectful, and sometimes the city apologizes without apologizing. There are many ways you can apologize,” Hamler, who earns $47,350, told The Post.