Adams supporter suing city for discrimination gets nearly $100,000 raise

NEW YORK — A long-time city employee who sued his agency for racial discrimination received a nearly $100,000 pay raise last August for a newly created position.

Richard Whint raised eyebrows within the Department of Buildings and City Hall last August, when he jumped from an $86,000 job as an assistant chief inspector to an assistant commissioner role with a $180,250 salary, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told POLITICO.

Several administration officials with knowledge of the hire said they believed he received the unusually high increase because of his friendship with Mayor Eric Adams — a connection Whint vehemently denied in a brief phone call last week. One of those people, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about a sensitive personnel matter, said Whint has openly discussed his friendship with the mayor.

“Everyone knows why Whint got the job,” the official said. “That one move killed the morale in inspections, because of how many people were passed over. Commissioner Eric Ulrich didn’t care — every promotion was made playing favorites, and it was never based on what was earned or proper order.”

Ulrich was a Republican member of the City Council who held successful fundraisers for Adams, and was named a senior adviser when Adams took office. In May the mayor appointed him to run the Department of Buildings. Ulrich resigned the job last year amid a prosecutorial probe into gambling, for which he has not been charged. He did not comment for this story.

Agency spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said Whint received the job strictly on his merits.

“Assistant Commissioner Whint is a 15-year veteran of the department, with substantial supervisory experience and advancement in the agency,” Rudansky said in a statement. “He was hired for this position after an extensive candidate search and interview process, where the best qualified candidate for the role was chosen.”

An Adams spokesperson said Whint went through a standard promotion process for high-level positions: Approvals from the commissioner and relevant deputy mayor before receiving Adams’ sign-off. The spokesperson declined to comment on the nature of the relationship between Whint and Adams.

“I have no relationship with the mayor,” Whint said when reached by phone on Thursday, before hanging up on a reporter. “People can say what they want. There was a job opening and I applied for it and I got the job.”

He acknowledged donating $500 to Adams at a campaign event last year — a donation that was refunded when, according to a campaign representative, the check bounced.

Adams has engaged in a pattern of hiring political allies and friends to high-level positions. Two recent members of the City Council who campaigned for him last year were awarded with jobs leading city agencies and a former friend of his who once rented him a room in her Brooklyn apartment got a $241,000-a-year job at NYPD — nearly five times what she earned in her previous job as 911 dispatcher, The CITY reported.

Whint is married to an FDNY attorney who participated in a judicial screening process conducted by the Brooklyn Democratic Party — an entity with longstanding ties to Adams, the Brooklyn borough president from 2013 through 2021.

Whint received the job of assistant commissioner overseeing inspection and quality assurance — a new role in the $219 million agency, which is facing a nearly 23-percent vacancy rate. The position was billed in nebulous terms, as one that “oversees inspection quality assurance programs” and “participates in the formulation and implementation of the policies of the agency, division or bureau and recommends changes in policies and procedures as deemed necessary,” according to the online posting — a copy of which was reviewed by POLITICO.

It also notes the eventual hire would ensure projects are being executed “effectively and on time” in an agency whose bureaucracy has historically caused consternation for developers and construction companies.

The job would come with a salary of $72,038 to $180,250, putting Whint at the top end of the range.

Rudansky said department officials interviewed 16 people, three of whom came recommended for the job, and decided Whint was the best fit for the role. He said the job was created to resolve past problems with inspections, and said it will ensure a smoother and more independent process.

Whint’s pay bump stood out from his peers. The Brooklyn resident joined the department in 2007, according to city payroll records. By 2014, he was making just over $51,000 as an inspector. Three years later, Whint became an associate inspector at $72,306. His most recent job was listed as construction inspector, an umbrella term that includes assistant chief inspectors, at a salary of $86,010.

Other longtime staffers who were listed as assistant commissioners as of last fiscal year worked their way up through smaller salary increases, according to a review of payroll records.

Whint, who is Black, has twice sued the city. In 2015, he was among a group of employees accusing the agency of discriminating against nonwhite workers.

"I've been applying for jobs over and over," he told the Daily News at the time. "What they do is give the white guys the position before the position is even posted."

Whint’s allegations were dismissed, though a number of fellow plaintiffs reached a settlement. In 2021, he joined another lawsuit against the department alleging unfair labor practices and retaliation for his participation in the earlier case. That suit is ongoing.

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this report misstated Richard Whint's earlier role as assistant chief inspector.