Forget the NFL — city Department of Sanitation rookies really get hazed, a federal lawsuit claims.
An ex-Sanitation worker says in a Brooklyn federal-court filing that older sanit men mercilessly retaliated after he requested evenings off — shortly after he was hired in 2011 — to take care of his elderly grandmother.
Nicholas Valvo, 30, of Staten Island, claims his locker was glued shut, his identification badge was lit on fire and he was relentlessly sexually harassed after he dared to ask for the special dispensations. He was fired after he complained.
Valvo claims the abuse became so intolerable that he finally filed a complaint in February — and got canned just two weeks later.
The rookie’s hardship requests “triggered a campaign of ‘hazing’ and sexual harassment directed at Plaintiff, which lasted for the duration of his employment with the [department],” the suit states.
Valvo claims his senior co-workers and supervisors couldn’t believe that the rookie had the nerve to ask for day shifts — and pelted him with homosexual slurs.
He had ugly messages scrawled on his locker – including “Hardship BJ,”
“jerkoff,” and “Valvo BJ,” according to the suit.
The garbage man claims that he came into work one day and found that his identification card had been burned to a crisp.
The suit claims that the city sanitation department is rife with threats and intimidation between employees who torture each other over perceived slights and disputes.
“There have been reports that worker’s personal vehicles were being keyed, dented, and their brake lines cut,” according to the complaint.
“There have also been incidents of worker’s personal property and DSNY property being set on fire.”
Valvo claims the harassment persisted even after he was fired. The father said that DSNY workers conspired to frame him for stealing copper wire and even forged his signature on an incriminating document.
“It is clear that if Mr. Valvo is ever reinstated as a DSNY Sanitation Worker he will face a tremendous amount of hardship and unfair treatment,” the suit states.
He is suing the department for discrimination and other rights violations.
The department did not return a call for comment Wednesday.