Who is more annoying? Donald Trump or his smug critics?
Trump, like a Tourette’s syndrome sufferer, can’t help embarrassing himself the moment he opens his mouth.
Then you have liberals who want Trump banished from the entire Planet Earth for trashing illegal Mexican immigrants but don’t object when black rappers say “nigger” and “bitch” practically every other word in their so-called music.
Other Republican presidential candidates act like they are all noble to condemn Trump, but obvious political pressure to seek votes from Latinos gives them little other choice.
Meanwhile, various haughty journalists claim Trump is not a serious candidate (a decision that really only voters make) and that he won’t be the Republican nominee, which, unless possessed of a crystal ball, they really don’t know.
Well, the circle jerk around Trump could soon intensify.
It turns out when Trump tells people “you’re fired” they sometimes respond, “you’re getting sued.”
Trumps’ various enterprises have been sued about 60 times for employment discrimination since 2000 and repeatedly before that, but almost nobody seems to have noticed amid all the allegations that he is bigoted.
A particularly newsworthy lawsuit is an ongoing racial discrimination case filed by a security guard for the Trump International Hotel and Tower right across from New York’s Central Park. He also alleges anti-gay harassment—that will surely delight Trump’s critics.
But the bulk of the lawsuit is racial.
Jamaican native Bryan Lambert says in his federal claim that he was subjected to repeated racial taunts by a white co-worker, including that, “all you mother fucking immigrants are coming to this country, fucking us up, and taking our jobs.”
He claims that Thomas Ahearn, also a security guard, even called him and other employees his “dark skinned friends.”
Lambert also charges that Fernando the bellman (last name unknown) repeatedly called him gay in a “derogatory” manner.
Supervisors shrugged off Lambert’s complaints about all the harassment, with Human Resources vice president Deirdre Rosen allegedly telling him to just “stick it out and work together. It’s not about you. It’s about the job.”
Gotta love her team spirit!
In October 2013, shortly after Lambert filed an EEOC complaint, Rosen allegedly gave him a bogus reprimand for lateness but said she would expunge it if he dropped the EEOC charge.
Lambert refused. In retaliation, he was repeatedly denied requests for vacation and overtime shifts, he says.
The lawsuit claims discrimination based on disability because hotel management told Lambert to shave his beard even though he suffers from a common condition for black men that makes shaving painful. Providing a doctor’s note did not help.
“You are not special,” assistant manager Francis Calderon allegedly told him, “Why can’t you look more like [an Asian-American front desk worker named] Christine.”
Uh, maybe because he is black and not Asian?
What kind of geniuses is Trump hiring?
In court papers the Trump International Hotel denied some allegations in the complaint and claimed they have no basis to evaluate the truth. Both statements are pro forma lawsuit defenses.
Mediation between both parties has so far proved unsuccessful. The case could go to trial early next year.
Maybe just in time for the primaries!
It is well to note that the mediation is not necessarily testament to any desire by Trump to settle the lawsuit and provide the plaintiff redress. Mediation is required for all employment lawsuits filed, like this one, in United States District Court for the Southern District.
Lambert’s lawsuit got a little coverage when it was first entered this January. But the alleged anti-gay and anti-immigrant comments were apparently not reported.
It could not immediately be determined if Lambert and his alleged tormentor still work at the hotel.
Lawyers for both sides did not respond to requests for comment.
But employment lawyer Morris Fischer, who just settled a case against the Obama Department of Homeland Security says “telling an employee that he has been harassed to go work it out is egregious.”
From Fischer’s analysis it sounds like Trump has some real dunces working for him. “The whole point of the HR departments is to pre-empt these kind of lawsuits and stop this kind of harassment,” he explained.