Fired Adams staffer returns to City Hall with pending lawsuit against Big Apple

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Fired Staffer Rejoins City Government Amid Ongoing Discrimination Lawsuit

A former staffer of ex-Mayor Eric Adams has returned to city government, all while pursuing a legal battle against the city for alleged discrimination during his termination two years ago.

Hassan Naveed has been appointed as the chief of staff to the deputy mayor for community safety in the Mamdani administration. In a post on LinkedIn, Naveed expressed his excitement about the new role and thanked Deputy Mayor Renita Francois for the opportunity to work towards building the city’s first unified community safety agency.

Hassan Naveed, former director of NYC's Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, sitting at a table with an American flag and the NYC seal in the background. — Hassan Naveed is joining the Mamdani administration as the chief of staff to the deputy mayor for community safety. (Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

Naveed expressed his honor to work under Mayor Zohran K Mamdani’s vision to ensure proactive and coordinated safety in New York City, tailored to the needs of different neighborhoods.

Previously, Naveed served under Mayor Adams as the executive director for the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes for approximately a year and a half.

However, Naveed claims that he was terminated from his role in a hostile work environment, citing anti-Muslim bias as the reason for his dismissal. He filed a lawsuit alleging that he faced discrimination based on his Muslim religion and South Asian ethnicity.

According to Naveed, he and other Muslim colleagues raised concerns about discriminatory behavior following attacks on Israel in October 7. Despite their complaints, Mayor Adams allegedly ignored their grievances.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams looking sideways during a House Committee hearing. — Naveed claims he was fired over the Adams administration’s discrimination based on his Muslim religion and South Asian ethnicity. (Photo: AP)

The lawsuit quotes Mayor Adams as saying, “I don’t know the difference between a Palestinian, Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, I have no idea,” and downplaying the discrimination claims by suggesting Muslims hadn’t denounced Hamas.

Naveed mentioned recording the conversation but did not release the audio. A spokesperson for Adams at the time stated that Naveed was let go due to poor performance.

Despite the ongoing lawsuit against the city, Naveed, who was part of the Mamdani transition team, will continue working in City Hall. He has chosen to defer comments on both the lawsuit and his new position to his legal representative.

As of now, City Hall has not responded to inquiries regarding the situation.