Cheating NY wife claims sex discrimination after ban from Long Island dojo

Her husband may have forgiven her, but her sensei won’t.

Long Island pharmacist Kristin Fabbio-Hamelburg says she was the victim of sex discrimination when she was banished from the Rockville Centre Tiger Schulmann karate center after having an extramarital affair with one of the instructors, according to a complaint filed with the state Division of Human Rights.

Fabbio-Hamelburg, a wife and mother of two sons, says she regrets her hot and heavy fling in which she hooked up with a younger, chiseled martial arts teacher — at times right in the dojo — and is working on fixing her marriage.

But she says she worked hard for her own training certificate, which she says she earned but was denied by the karate clinic’s owner Jobin George after the tryst came to light. Further, she claims, George banned her from his dojo and told other Tiger Schulmann franchises about her affair, marking her with a scarlet belt that prevents her from training and teaching at other karate schools.

Her former lover was not punished at all for their crimes of the heart, she said, and kept his job teaching martial arts at Tiger Schulmann. He could not be reached for comment.

George, through his lawyer, Aaron Kleinmann, said it was not jealousy or puritanical zeal that caused him to bar her from the center, but her husband’s threats and frequent drop-ins that prompted him to banish her out ofconcern for his students.George said that they didn’t want her back “to preserve the health and safety of the gym’s committed staff members and students.”

Emails quoted in the Division of Human Rights complaint show how uneasy George was grappling with the domestic squabble at his business.

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

But in a lengthy email that was provided by the lawyer, the jilted spouse also vents about his wife’s infidelity and the neglect of her family duties.

“I am NOT a threat to your school. I know it appears that way,” Daniel Fabbio-Hamelburg writes. “You don’t know the real me, you only see the cheated-on, beaten-down husband I have become over the past 2 years, which were a nightmare for me.” He declined to comment for this story.

In another email, the husband admitted raising his voice during one visit but said he had handled the stressful situation with restraint.

“To show you more of who I am, after my visit in August, yes I visited him again, we sat down in the office like gentlemen & I apologize for my first visit,” he wrote. “Kristin has been pushing me to a breaking point. It isn’t fair, not just am I depressed but the kids are affected too.”

George never went to the police or sought a restraining order against the husband, Kleinmann said.

The saga began in 2019, when Kristin Fabbio-Hamelburg took up martial arts as a family activity.

“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,” Kristin Fabbio-Hamelburg told the Daily News. “I never knew it was so satisfying to punch something.”

She signed up with George, who owns the Rockville Centre franchise and another one in Merrick, and instantly became hooked.

“It was my outlet — my stress release — for two and half years until Jobin decided randomly to fire me,” she said.

From February 2019 to June 2021, Fabbio-Hamelburg says she trained weekly until George asked her if she would be interested in becoming a certified karate instructor. She jumped at the chance and the two worked out a deal in which she would help teach classes while she earned her certificate.

But Fabbio-Hamelburg was doing more than roundhouse kicks during her late nights in the dojo.

She admits that she had a fling with a fellow instructor, sometimes hooking up in the training center.

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

Kleinmann said that all the drama was just too much for George’s program and the sensei pulled her certification.

The lawyer declined to discuss how his client addressed the affair with the instructor. .

The Fabbio-Hamelburgs are working on repairing their marriage, but Kristin still wants to train and teach at other Tiger Schulmann locations.

“The retaliation, in this case, is outrageous. My client has been effectively banned from teaching at all Tiger Schulmann locations. As such, I look forward to the State’s investigation of these very serious sex discrimination claims and eagerly anticipate a favorable probable cause determination in my client’s favor,” said her lawyer David Rosenberg.

This story has been updated.