Karate studio owner defends decision to bar student from suing for discrimination

The owner of a Long Island karate studio has defended his decision to ban his karate-obsessed student.

The woman’s husband threatened the business after learning of his wife’s affair with her karate instructor.

After his ban, the woman, Kristin Fabbio-Hamelburg, filed a lawsuit against Jobin George, owner of the Tiger Schulmann Martial Arts Center at Rockville Center, for sex discrimination and minimum wage.

Fabbio-Hamelburg was an unpaid volunteer who taught classes and whose two young children also attended classes at the center.

When George removed Fabbio-Hamelburg from his position over threats from his spouse, he cited the safety of his students.

“At no point was it about sexual discrimination for being an instructor,” George told DailyMail.com. ‘I took her out because of her husband’s threats [Daniel Hamelburg] threatening the gym’s security after finding out about the extramarital affair she was having with an instructor.

She said that the husband who knew about his wife’s infidelity came to the studio several times. She described him as hostile and unhinged, and many of the parents said they felt uncomfortable in her presence.

One of the parents, in fact, had tried to place a restraining order against Fabbio-Hammelberg’s husband, preventing him from coming to the studio because she has three children who take classes at the center, and he feared for their safety.

George said he was unaware of the matter going on at his center until an anonymous source came forward.

He said he then confronted his employee, who confessed to him what was going on. To keep his job, George said the instructor, whose identity has not been released, had to sign legal documents to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. Fabbio-Hammelberg did not have to sign any papers as she was just a volunteer.

However, in May 2022, George discovered that Fabbio-Hammelberg had texted the instructor asking to see him. That text was obtained by DailyMail.com.

George said that when the husband found out his wife was still going on, the threats began to escalate and that’s when he forced her to leave.

Weeks after being told to leave, Fabbio-Hammelberg asked George if she could return to her volunteer position, but George refused her request.

However, since the story broke, he has received anonymous calls accusing him of mistreating women.

‘It has gotten out of hand. It’s escalating to the point that now I’m getting messages about what I’ve allegedly done and that I’ve discriminated,” George told DailyMail.com.

‘I empathize with the people of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination. It was the safety of my children. If I knew there was a threat, I would not take my son to that establishment.

He also said that he has not been formally notified. And, earlier this week, he learned that a The complaint had been filed with the state Division of Human Rights which was first reported by the New York Daily News.

DailyMail.com has obtained a copy of the report.

George, who owns several martial arts studios and has been in the business for eleven years, defends his actions.

‘I did not do anything wrong. ‘Tiger Schulmann is a great entity and they are trying to get my name down.’

The Tiger Schulman franchise is independently owned and operated. Although Fabbio-Hammelberg is banned from locating him, George told DailyMail.com that he is still training at the Garden City location.

The emails in the complaint show the back and forth between George and Fabbio-Hamelburg, which showed their discomfort with the couple’s domestic problems.

‘a contempt [sic] your husband can do crazy things and your presence makes everyone uncomfortable because your husband is a threat,” George wrote to Kristin Fabbio-Hamelburg.

Her husband claimed that he was not a threat, but an abandoned spouse in the midst of a difficult situation.

‘I am NOT a threat to your school. I know it seems that way,” Daniel Hamelburg wrote in an email.

“You don’t know the real me, you only see the cheated and beaten husband I’ve become in the last 2 years, which were a nightmare for me.”

He admitted to raising his voice in the center.

“To show you more of who I am, after my visit in August, yes I visited again, we sat in the office like gentlemen and I apologize for my first visit,” he wrote. ‘Kristin has been pushing me to a breaking point. It’s not fair, I’m not only depressed but the children are affected as well.’

According to George, Fabbio-Hamelburg was a certified Level 1 instructor, having earned her training certificate at her Rockville Center location.

She said she became more involved in studying once her two sons, ages 7 and 10, became students, but her hobby quickly turned into an obsession.

She became obsessive. Her husband had to tell her to stop going to Tiger Schulman, so she stopped coming on Mondays,” George said. ‘Her husband wanted her to be home for the children and help them with her homework.’

Everyone knew that she was obsessive. She wanted to be everything this place was,” George said.

The romance between Fabbio-Hamelburg and the karate instructor began in 2019 when she began practicing martial arts at the center during a special Mother’s Day class.

“My oldest son started training there and then there was a Mother’s Day class, so I attended the class because my son asked me to,” Fabbio-Hamelburg told the Daily News.

“I never knew it was so satisfying to hit something,” he said.

She became a certified karate instructor in 2021 and began teaching classes. George explained that they had bartered and that she had taught twice a week for a few months.

Fabbio-Hamelburg, who also worked as a pharmacist, said: “It was my outlet, my stress relief, for two and a half years until Jobin decided to randomly fire me.”

She also admitted to the matter, meeting from time to time at the training center.

“We played a little bit inside the school on two occasions, one of which Jobin claimed to have a video of, but I don’t know, he was never able to produce it,” he said.

Fabbio-Hamelburg said she is working things out with her husband.

George’s lawyer, Aaron Kleinmann of Malachi Law PC, whose law firm regularly represents victims of domestic abuse, issued a statement to DailyMail.com.

“This law firm and our client take all allegations of discrimination very seriously, however, to date, our due diligence has revealed that Ms. Fabbio-Hamelburg was prohibited from training at Tiger’s RVC location. Schulmann solely due to violent threats made by her and her husband, Dan Fabbio, Hamelburg, against certain staff members.

‘Although our law firm routinely represents and always identifies with victims of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace, in this case, Ms. Fabbio-Hamelburg’s ban from training and volunteering at Tiger Schulmann’s at Rockville Center was apparently directly related to non-discriminatory reasons, including, to preserve the health and safety of committed gym staff members and students.’

“To the best of our knowledge, Ms. Fabbio-Hamelburg remains free to train and volunteer at other Tiger Schulmann locations, and has continued to train through 2022 at Tiger Schulmann’s independently owned Garden City Gym.”

“We look forward to defending our clients against these allegations before the New York State Commission on Human Rights.”