An Equinox receptionist who tattled on an alleged steam room masturbator at his Wall Street gym says he got fired for going public about the tawdry touching incident.
“I’m banned because I spoke out,” charges Michael Alexander, 27, who says he got axed Friday for reporting his May 21 encounter with high-powered litigator Steven Hammond, 65.
Alexander says he was off-duty at the gym and alone in the steam room with Hammond when the white shoe lawyer allegedly stared at him for 15 seconds and began pleasuring himself.
“He looked at me again, inferring, ‘Let’s do this,’ ” said Alexander. His own reaction: “Ugh!”
Hammond was arrested for public lewdness but slammed Alexander’s claim as a “complete fabrication.”
Equinox managers escorted the front-desk worker out of the gym earlier this week, asking about The Post’s story on his allegations, Alexander says.
Equinox, which is taking heat for allegedly ignoring steam room shenanigans, denied the allegation they called him “disgruntled,” and accused him of failing to follow the company’s public relations protocols, he said. “While it is evident that Equinox continuously does not take steps to protect its members from sexual assault, it is even more unconscionable that they would fire one of their own employees for speaking out about being a victim of the very same alleged sex crime that they repeatedly cover-up,” Alexander’s lawyer, Marc Held, said.
Alexander accused his supervisors of discouraging him from reporting the incident and failing to work with police after he filed a complaint.
“I really wanted to move up in that company before this happened,” he said. “They did nothing to help me. They did nothing to help the police officer.”
“We unequivocally do not terminate employees for speaking to the media,” a spokeswoman said.