Latina women sue Nassau for discrimination

Four Latina women have filed a federal lawsuit against Nassau County, saying that they were routinely harassed and discriminated against based on their ethnicity while they were employees at the county Department of Health.

The women, Celina Breton and Alma Duran, both of Uniondale, Betty Martinez-Navarez, of Lindenhurst, and Anna Miranda, of East Meadow, all longtime employees of the agency, filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip.

"They were harassed. They were discriminated against," said the women's attorney, Lenard Leeds, of Carle Place. "The Latin workers were really treated differently than their white counterparts."

Nassau County Attorney John Ciampoli said the county has not yet been served with the lawsuit.

"Absent the county's opportunity to have counsel review the complaint we will not be making any comment," he said.

The women allege in the suit that over a period of many years, their bosses at the department's Women, Infants and Children Program made numerous offensive remarks about their ethnicity.

Breton said in the suit that her boss told her not to answer phones because she could not "speak properly," and made her do menial work, like lifting heavy equipment, that her white co-workers did not have to do.

Duram said she was made to work in a closet, while her white co-workers worked at desks in open office space. She said her boss spoke openly about "stupid Spanish people," and said that "the Latino community is ignorant."

Moreover, the complaint alleges, each of the women were told by supervisors they would be fired if they supported a 2005 discrimination suit against the county by a Latina co-worker, Maria Estrada. That case was settled last year with a payout by the county, Leeds said.

All four women were recently laid off by the county, Leeds said. He said the women had already filed discrimination complaints with the state Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before they lost their jobs, and he believes they were let go in retaliation for those complaints.

Leeds said the women had filed legal notice in this case before they were laid off, so allegations that they were let go in retaliation for their complaint are not part of the lawsuit. He said the lawsuit will be amended to include that allegation.