This Former NYC Office Cleaner Filed a Sexual Harassment Complaint—Then the Bosses Fired Her
A defiant Nicole Muñoz says she was sexually harassed on the job while in the employ of the SL Green real estate company. The New York Division of Human Rights says there is “probable cause” her later termination was retaliation for filing a sexual-harassment complaint. Photo/Nancy Siesel
By Steve Wishnia
Four years after Nicole Muñoz was fired from her job as a bathroom cleaner in a Midtown office building, and nine months after the state Division of Human Rights held there was “probable cause” to believe it was retaliation for her filing a sexual-harassment complaint, she is seeking compensation from her former employer, the SL Green real-estate company.
But SL Green, the largest office landlord in Manhattan, has engaged the union-busting law firm Littler Mendelson to help negotiate a possible settlement—and is giving her what she calls “very lowball” offers.
Muñoz, a 42-year-old mother of three, thought she had landed a great job when she was hired by SL Green in December 2018 after working as a temp there for several years. It was a union job that paid $24.50 an hour plus benefits, enabling her to support her two young children, who are now 16 and 9.
“Her foreman would follow her into the bathrooms while she worked. When she asked for a uniform with pants instead of a dress, Muñoz says he told her, ‘No, I like my women in dresses.’ He would text her at 2 a.m. with messages like ‘Have a wet dream,’ and, after he saw her talking with a male coworker, he told her ‘I should punch you in your fucking face’—twice, she says.”
But the harassment started right away, she told Work-Bites while picketing outside SL Green’s headquarters by Grand Central Station June 2. Her foreman would follow her into the bathrooms while she worked. When she asked for a uniform with pants instead of a dress, Muñoz says he told her, “No, I like my women in dresses.” He would text her at 2 a.m. with messages like “Have a wet dream,” and, after he saw her talking with a male coworker, he told her “I should punch you in your fucking face”—twice, she says.
“All I wanted to do was work and take care of my kids. I cleaned the bathrooms by myself from the 20th floor down to the eighth,” Muñoz says. “I never had nothing to do with this man, and he became possessive over me.”
On Aug. 26, 2019, according to the Division of Human Rights report, she filed an internal sexual-harassment complaint accusing her foreman. Three days later, she was issued a warning for having taken too many sick days off.
Nicole Muñoz brought a banner to SL Green Realty’s offices in Manhattan this week urging the company to “End Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Retaliation” at all of its worksites. Photo/Steve Wishnia
Furloughed in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Muñoz returned to work in October 2021. Within a month, she was suspended. SL Green accused her, among other things, of being disrespectful to her foreman and supervisor, cursing the freight-elevator operator who collected garbage bags from each floor, and violating its arrival time policy by coming in early.
“‘Complainant was disciplined multiple times after the August 2019 complaint including suspensions and ultimately termination,’” the investigator wrote. ‘This is especially noteworthy since the record does not contain documentation to show that Complainant had been disciplined prior to her August 2019 complaint.’”
Muñoz later told Division of Human Rights investigators that it was common for night-shift cleaners to come in early to begin preparing, and that no other workers were disciplined for it. She denied cursing the freight-elevator operator, saying she just told him, “I heard you call me a ‘fucking bitch,’” and added that he’d amused the Albanian-speaking workers by calling her a “whore” in Albanian.
In January 2022, she was suspended indefinitely, for taking an unauthorized break and being on her phone on the job—which, SL Green told investigators, had been recorded by her foreman. (Muñoz told investigators that she had gone into “the darkest room I could find” because she was having a panic attack, “shaking and crying.”)
She was fired that June.
After a grievance filed through her union, 32BJ, didn’t work out—per the union’s contract, it was sent to arbitration, which resulted in the National Labor Relations Board closing a complaint she’d filed—she filed a complaint with the Division of Human Rights in May 2023.
SL Green said in its response that “the retaliation claim is unfounded” and that Muñoz was fired “due to her extensive history of unprofessional conduct, repeated rule violations, and poor work performance.” It said it had “thoroughly investigated” her sexual-harassment claim, and had “uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing” by her foreman.
In September 2025, the division’s investigator ruled that Muñoz had filed the complaint after its statutes of limitations on harassment (three years for sexual, one year for non-sexual) had run out, but that there was enough evidence to hold a public hearing—the equivalent of a trial—on her accusations of retaliation.
“Complainant was disciplined multiple times after the August 2019 complaint including suspensions and ultimately termination,” the investigator wrote. “This is especially noteworthy since the record does not contain documentation to show that Complainant had been disciplined prior to her August 2019 complaint.”
Lawyers for SL Green had told the division in August 2025 that the company “is not in possession of any disciplinary records for Ms. Muñoz prior to August 2019.”
The Division of Human Rights suggests that complainants settle their cases, because “this can be much faster than the public-hearing process.” Hearings take one or two days, and the division has about 70 scheduled for this month. Like going to trial in a court, “it is by nature a lengthy process,” a spokesperson told Work-Bites.
Muñoz says she began having panic attacks while her supervisor was harassing her, and since she was fired has been in therapy and been prescribed medication for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
SL Green and Littler Mendelson have offered to settle the case for $5,000 and then for $25,000, she says. She estimates she’s owed $96,000 in back pay.
“I’m not accepting that,” she says. “I tried to prevent this and keep my job, and [they] let that man keep harassing me.”
Ray Rogers of Corporate Campaign, who is organizing an effort to “seek justice” for Muñoz, calls those offers “insulting.” He believes she’s entitled to back pay, compensation for the effect on her health, and compensation for loss of future income.
“It all comes down to power politics,” he says. “They want to play by their ground rules.”
Muñoz now works as a home health aide. It pays much less, but she says taking care of people “brought me back to myself. I love my patients.”
But, she says, her old foreman, who lives near her, is still harassing her, posting messages like “I’m going to keep my eye on you” on social media.
SL Green responded to an initial query from Work-Bites by requesting more information. As of press time, it had not responded after being sent Muñoz’s name and a brief summary of her case’s status.