The Swedish mission to the U.N. wants a judge to toss a key part of a disabled, Hispanic employee’s $1.7 million discrimination lawsuit — on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.
Carlos Figueroa sued Sweden’s New York Mission in December, claiming he suffered injuries when his allegedly racist bosses made him assemble a 300-pound IKEA wardrobe by himself.
DRIVER FOR SWEDEN’S N.Y. MISSION ALLEGES RACISM IN SUIT
The Mission’s lawyers, Frederick D. Braid and Edward Frischling, both of Holland & Knight, argued before Manhattan Federal Judge John G. Koeltl on Wednesday that the Swedes can’t be sued for the alleged discrimination.
They maintain Figueroa’s discrimination claim against the Mission is prohibited under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. They also argue that “many of the claims are stale — far beyond the statute of limitations.”
They are not pushing to dismiss Figueroa’s personal injury claim on the grounds of immunity, as personal injury claims are one of the exceptions to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
Zein E. Obagi, Jr. and Stanley Chinitz, who represent 52-year-old Figueroa, counter the same law empowers him to sue for discrimination. Figueroa’s job, which was mainly driving people, was not specific to a foreign government — meaning it falls under a commercial exemption, they say.
“There’s nothing distinctly sovereign about it,” Obagi said after the hearing.
Figueroa, who was hired as a driver and office clerk for the mission in 2006, says in the lawsuit mission staffers and officials treated him poorly because of his Puerto Rican heritage, complaining he was overpaid and lazy.
The suit quotes a staffer as saying, “Why are ‘Spanish people’ so loud,” and “Why do ‘Spanish people’ smoke pot and drink so much?'” When Figueroa complained to the Ambassador, the filing says, the response was: “You just took her comments the wrong way!”
The Bronx resident slammed the mission’s move for immunity.
“They’re hypocrites and liars,” said Figueroa, who now walks with a cane and fears he might wind up paralyzed from extensive sciatic nerve damage.
“The American public should know — and I think they’re hiding behind immunity,” he said.
