MTA workers suspended over secret ‘man cave’ at Grand Central

NEW YORK — Three Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers have been suspended without pay and face potential termination after building a secret “man cave” under the tracks of New York’s Grand Central Terminal. A report by the Office of the MTA Inspector General says the men used the room — complete with big-screen TV, refrigerator, microwave and futon — to “hang out and get drunk and party.” Names of the three workers — a wireman, electrical foreman, and carpenter foreman — were not released because of ongoing disciplinary action.

The New York Post reports that Metro-North President Cathy Rinaldi called the room “outrageously inappropriate.”

The three men denied using the room, behind a locksmith shop under track No. 114. But when found during an investigation by the Inspector General, the room included a receipt for the futon bearing the name of one of the men, a connection on the television to another man’s smart phone, and a TV streaming device registered to the third man. A half-consumed beer was among items in the refrigerator.

The Inspector General further found that Metro-North Railroad security failed to investigate two complaints about the existence of the room, and that the director of Grand Central Terminal had failed to follow up on testimony mentioning the room during a disciplinary hearing.