US: Employee called ‘dirty Jew’ will be paid damages

Man in his fifties will be paid $900,000 by former place of employment where he was abused for years, receiving anti-Semitic remarks. 'This is an ethical triumph,' plaintiff says

Ynet|Published: 10.31.13 , 15:16

For years, delivery man Adam Wiercinski suffered anti-semitic insults from his employers at a New York restaurant. This week, the court ruled that the restaurant will pay him a compensation of $900,000.

The attorney of the 50-year-old delivery man told the New York Post, "They would call him a ‘dirty Jew,’ and when he would say, ‘But I took a bath,’ they would laugh and say, ‘No, you still smell like a Jew.’”

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Wiercinski worked at the restaurant Mangia 57 from 1997-2008. Even with the racist environment, he was afraid of finding himself without work. “Who else is going to hire a 50-year-old deliveryman?’ He was afraid,” said his lawyer.

When it came to his former employers, no topic was off limits. The night shift manager Artur Zbozien would pass gas in the direction of Wiercinski and say it was "Zyklon B,” the poison gas used by the Nazis in the death camps.

“Everybody laughed, and then he said, ‘See, this is your Zyklon B, you stupid Jew,’" Wiercinski said. Jurists listened in silence as Wiercinski’s attorney explained to them what Zyklon B was. In addition, the delivery man’s employers would throw pennies at him and cut him out of tips.

Three days of court testimony were all it took for the court to reach a decision last week, and according to it, Wiercinski’s three previous employers will participate in paying the damages. “This is an ethical triumph,” said the delivery man, “This is a very happy ending, I am in another world.”