Ex-MSG usher sues for wrongful termination despite allegedly hiding sex offender status
An ex-con who worked briefly as an usher at Madison Square Garden is suing James Dolan’s company for wrongful termination — despite being a registered sex offender who the arena claims “falsified his background check information.”
Stevie P. Robinson, 59, who was out on parole after serving 20 years for raping a 6-year-old girl, was canned last year from his “dream job,” according to the lawsuit against the arena’s parent company, MSG Entertainment, filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday.
Robinson had passed the company’s background check and was hired in December 2021 to work as an usher at the World’s Most Famous Arena, the complaint said.
The complaint stated that Robinson “was never advised or told that there was any problem” with the background check.
MSG officials became suspicious after Robinson’s parole officer contacted his employers in August 2022 to verify that he was fulfilling his obligations to attain gainful employment as per the terms of his post-release supervision, the complaint said.
He was fired that month, according to the complaint.
“Stevie Robinson is a convicted sexual offender and falsified his background check information to obtain employment with MSG, which came to light while he was being terminated for violating company policy, including inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” a Garden rep told The Post.
The spokesperson declined to provide details on the alleged violation of company policy.
His lawyers alleged that MSG broke state and city law by terminating Robinson “solely on the basis of a past criminal conviction” even though it “had no direct relationship to” his job as an usher.
Robinson is seeking unspecified damages.
The Post has sought comment from Robinson’s attorneys.
Being an usher was Robinson’s “dream job,” he was “a big fan of the New York Knicks” and “had been patronizing MSG all of his life, as a fan,” according to the lawsuit.
Robinson “suffered from disabilities” including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to the filing.
The complaint alleged that Robinson would report to MSG’s “staff office” in order to “seek assistance…with his job functions” including “technical and scheduling issues” because “he could not understand how to do certain things” due to this condition.
But after the call from the parole officer, arena employees “created a posting or document” with his photo and details of his sex offender past, it was alleged in the complaint.
Robinson had served two decades behind bars at Sing Sing Correctional Facility after his November 2000 conviction for sodomy and sexual abuse of the young girl, according to New York State prison records.
The MSG employees circulated a document which contained “bold and all caps” letters that read “BOLO” — or “Be On the Look Out” — in order to “discriminate against” him and to “humiliate” him “solely due to his alleged past criminal conviction,” according to the lawsuit.
The “BOLO” document warned MSG employees that Robinson “is a registered sexually violent offender with a high-risk level,” it was alleged in the complaint.
MSG employees, “dozens” of whom are alleged to have seen the document, were urged to contact Garden security “if the subject is seen on or near venue property,” according to the complaint.
In August 2022, Robinson alleged that a Garden security team member “advised” him that he “should not enter the staff office if [he] did not need to.”
Despite the instruction, Robinson continued “to visit the staff office when he needed work-related assistance” because he “did not know where else to get the assistance he needed,” the filing said.
Robinson believes that MSG used his entering the staff office as a pretext to fire him, according to the complaint.
“We are aware of the lawsuit and believe that facts will support a conclusion that his claims are wholly without merit,” the MSG rep said.
