Our Firm in The Daily News:
EX-MET USHER, 76: I WAS THROWN OUT!
BY JORDAN LITE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, October 22th 2006, 1:34AM
An elderly usher who worked at Shea Stadium for 42 years has filed a $5 million damage suit against the Mets charging he was fired because he's too old.
William Cook says he's not the only veteran who has been pushed out by the team.
"They got rid of the old-timers. This is strictly discrimination," said Cook, 76, of Brooklyn. "There's no other word that would describe the situation."
On the field, the Mets have no qualms about playing Franco, who, at 48, is the oldest major leaguer. But Cook said his supervisor told him in April that he wouldn't "last this season" after he found out how old he was. He was let go in July, and the stress was so bad he had a heart attack, Cook says.
"A day wouldn't pass when this supervisor wouldn't ask me how old I was. It was a stress, it was a weight on me: Why is this guy asking me for my age? This went on month after month," Cook said.
"They treated me like garbage. And at 76, to get anything comparable to what I had, those days are over. You don't get a job anymore," he added.
In a complaint filed Monday in Queens Supreme Court, Cook alleges that a supervisor, Vincent Montemarno, berated him in front of other ushers and fans. One supervisor called him a "piece of crap" and "a rat," the documents said.
Cook's suit also alleges that Montemarno tried to set him up to take a bribe and called him a "thief."
Montemarno could not be reached, and Mets spokesman Donald Muller would not immediately comment on the suit.
According to the complaint, other elderly ushers were reassigned to jobs they were sure to fail at. One suffered a fatal heart attack soon after he was sent to work the upper deck. Two others were demoted to the commissary, "a position that is very difficult for elderly people," according to the complaint. One died soon after, the documents said.
"His case is clearly about age discrimination," said Cook's attorney, Louis Ginsburg. "He's emotional about the whole thing."
After he was fired in July, Cook said he continued taking tickets at Yankee Stadium, where he has worked for 30 years. But he had a heart attack a month ago.
"I'm not senile. I know what I'm doing and I thought I was doing the job I'm being paid for," he said. "It was part of my life. When they take that life away from you, it's a big emptiness I have in my system."
Woman sues Pay-O-Matic over boss's alleged 'stupid Indian' remark
Bank of America sued for gender discrimination
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Thursday, July 30th 2009, 11:42 PM
BY BRENDAN BROSH
Louis: Banking on economic justice
A Guyanese-American woman is suing check-cashing giant Pay-O-Matic, claiming that she was regularly called a "stupid Indian" by a senior manager.
Mallama Anderson, who said she started with Pay-O-Matic in 1982, and worked there until she was terminated in February 2009, is suing for $2 million in Queens Supreme Court.
Anderson, who worked as a manager, alleges in court papers that her supervisor, Tony Hernandez, began a campaign of harassment in 2002 and said to her, "I know you're a stupid Indian" on eight occasions.
"There's no explanation for the hurt and pain I feel," Anderson, who lives in Richmond Hill, told the Daily News Thursday. "I've done nothing wrong to the company."
She said she complained to Executive Vice President Ray Mustafa in 2003 about the alleged harassment, but nothing was done about it.
Pay-O-Matic lawyers, however, said Anderson was canned for getting physically intimate with an unidentified man on the job and bringing him into a secure area of the store.
The company has a videotape to prove it, said attorney Jeffrey Englander.
"This is a disgruntled former employee," Englander said. "She was engaging in what I refer to as extramarital smooching."
Anderson - who worked at a branch on Manhattan Ave. in Brooklyn - alleges that another 30-year employee with a West Indian background was fired by Hernandez because "his accent was not good for Pay-O-Matic."
Hernandez also made comments about the smell of a West Indian employee, according to court papers filed by Anderson's attorney, Louis Ginsberg.
Anderson claims Hernandez fired a West Indian man named Robert, and was asked, "Do all Guyanese stink like Robert?"
Hernandez hired mostly Hispanics, and rarely hired West Indians, according to Anderson.
"This company does not discriminate on any basis," said Englander. "We're investigating every angle of her claims."
Englander said he could not comment on whether Hernandez was still with the company.
Anderson - who said she was named employee of the year by the company several years ago - is confident she'll win her case.
"I'm 100% sure it will turn out in my favor," she said.
Call today to discuss your case at 1-800-LOST-JOB (1-800-567-8562) or 1-877-4WAGESLAW (1-877-492-4375).
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