A former Department of Probation (DOP) chief investigator has amended her whistleblower lawsuit after city lawyers moved to dismiss it, explicitly arguing that an alleged prior relationship between Commissioner Sharun Goodwin and General Counsel Wayne McKenzie — and preferential treatment that, she says, resulted from it — amounted to “sexual favoritism” and a discriminatory employment practice.
Ebony Huntley, a retired NYPD lieutenant who joined the DOP in May 2025 and later served as chief investigator and director of investigations, says she was fired earlier this year after sending the city Department of Investigation an anonymous staff complaint raising concerns about DOP leadership.
Huntley says she received that complaint March 25. Among other allegations, it claimed Goodwin, appointed by Mayor Mamdani in January, and McKenzie had a prior intimate relationship that employees believed created a conflict of interest and affected impartial decision-making. It also alleged Goodwin intended to remove or marginalize employees associated with the prior mayoral administration.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
A Law Department spokesperson declined to address the amended complaint or the city’s next move in response to amNewYork. “As this remains a pending matter, we won’t be commenting at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The Department of Probation did not immediately respond to a separate request for comment.
Huntley says she forwarded the complaint to DOI on March 26. Her lawsuit alleges McKenzie referenced it during a meeting the following day and fired her.
City lawyers moved Aug. 7 to dismiss Huntley’s April 9 suit, arguing in part that her original complaint failed to identify a law she reasonably believed agency officials had violated. They characterized the allegations she passed along as “nothing more than workplace rumors and gossip” that did not qualify as protected whistleblowing.
Huntley responded on Aug. 25 with an amended complaint that does not add significant new facts, according to her attorney, John Scola. However, it aims to more clearly spell out why she says reporting the allegations was legally protected.
Scola said Huntley chose to amend the complaint as of right to address issues raised in the city’s dismissal motion rather than defend the original version as written. If the city files another dismissal motion, Huntley plans to oppose it, he said.
The alleged anonymous complaint from concerned Department of Probation employees that Ebony Huntley says in a lawsuit she received before forwarding it to the city Department of Investigation.Photo courtesy of court filings
The amendment directly addresses the city’s argument that Huntley had not reported conduct protected by state or city anti-discrimination laws.
City lawyers argued that reporting the alleged relationship and other workplace complaints did not amount to opposing unlawful discrimination.
“Reporting these rumors was not protective activity because Plaintiff was not opposing or complaining about discriminatory conduct prohibited by the SHRL or CHRL,” the city wrote, referring to the state and city Human Rights Laws.
Huntley’s amended filing says she reasonably believed the alleged Goodwin-McKenzie relationship, and preferential treatment in official decision-making that she says resulted from it, constituted “sexual favoritism and a discriminatory employment practice” prohibited by state and city Human Rights Laws.
It also points specifically to city conflict-of-interest rules, restrictions on using public office for private advantage or nepotism and protections against adverse personnel actions tied to affiliation with a prior administration.
The revised filing also drops a state Labor Law claim that city lawyers had argued could not be brought against the city, and narrows Huntley’s Civil Service Law whistleblower claim to the city rather than Goodwin and McKenzie individually. The city had challenged both portions of the original complaint in its dismissal motion.
Huntley’s lawsuit is one of several recent court challenges involving personnel changes at DOP under Goodwin. Former agency IT employees Jenette Cummings and Demmi Slaughter have separately filed court challenges disputing the circumstances surrounding their departures.