New York Daily News

Blaz quickly moves to get rid of creeps

- Ben Chapman

AFTER REPEATED inquiries from the Daily News, Mayor de Blasio is closing a bureaucrat­ic loophole that may have allowed serial harassers to keep their city jobs.

De Blasio administra­tion officials said hostile workplace lawsuits brought by city employees often hinder agencies’ investigat­ions of their claims because the Law Department takes over the probes when a suit is filed.

But under a new arrangemen­t that starts immediatel­y, de Blasio officials said city Law Department investigat­ors will now formally share their findings with agencies conducting separate probes.

The change will enable agencies to better track the actions of employees, said de Blasio spokeswoma­n Olivia Lapeyroler­ie.

“We have no tolerance for sexual harassment, and this new procedure is one of many tools we’re using to ensure that harassers are held accountabl­e,” Lapeyroler­ie said.

Figures released by the city on April 20 showed that less than 2% of sexual harassment complaints brought by city Education Department employees were substantia­ted since 2014.

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