Walia v. Vivek Purmasir & Associates, Inc., 95-CV-2428 (RJD).

• Decision Date: 15 November 2000
• Docket Number: No. 95-CV-2428 (RJD).,95-CV-2428 (RJD).
• Citation: 160 F.Supp.2d 380
• Parties: Mandeep WALIA, Plaintiff, v. VIVEK PURMASIR & ASSOCIATES, INC. and Vivek Purmasir, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

160 F.Supp.2d 380

Mandeep WALIA, Plaintiff, v. VIVEK PURMASIR & ASSOCIATES, INC. and Vivek Purmasir, Defendants.

No. 95-CV-2428 (RJD).

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

November 15, 2000.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John P. Bostany, Bostany Law Firm, for plaintiff.

Vivek Purmasir & Assoc., Inc., Pro se.

ORDER

DEARIE, District Judge.

The Court has received plaintiff's timely objections to certain recommendations of Magistrate Judge Pollak in a Report and Recommendation to the Court dated February 8, 2000. The Court hereby adopts the recommendations of Magistrate Judge Pollak with the following qualifications:

1. Attorney's fees will be paid at the rate of $200 per hour and shall include an additional three and one-half hours of compensable time, with interest at the rate utilized by Magistrate Judge Pollak.

2. Costs are authorized in the amount of $823.25.

Plaintiff's counsel shall submit a proposed judgment within ten days of receipt of this order.

SO ORDERED.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

POLLAK, District Judge.

Plaintiff Mandeep Walia filed this action against her former employer, Vivek Purmasir & Associates, Inc., and Vivek Purmasir ("Purmasir"), alleging several claims of sexual harassment, pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et. seq. and the New York Human Rights Law ("NYHRL"), N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(1)(a) (McKinney's 1993), based on the conduct of Purmasir during the course of her employment. Following service of the summons and complaint upon defendants and their failure to answer or otherwise move with respect to the complaint, a default was entered on September 21, 1995 by the Honorable Raymond J. Dearie. The matter was subsequently referred to the undersigned to prepare a Report and Recommendation on damages.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND¹

Beginning on February 8, 1995, plaintiff Mandeep Walia interviewed for a job as a secretary with Purmasir's company. (Tr. at 5). At the time of the interview, Purmasir, the president of the company, told plaintiff that he operated his business out of his home but that he was in the process of looking for another office. (Tr. at 4-5). He also told plaintiff that he had 20 employees who were involved in conducting a marketing survey of the Indian Community for AT & T. (Tr. at 5). Since plaintiff was attending Queensborough Community College at the time, she was hired to work as a part-time secretary on the weekends, answering the telephones and entering data into the computer. (Tr. at 7). She understood that she was to work 20-25 hours per week at the pay rate of $400.00 per week.

On February 10, 1995, plaintiff began working for Purmasir. Shortly thereafter, she was subjected to a variety of sexual advances by Purmasir. She alleges that on the first day, Purmasir told her, "this is a very friendly place. We work like a family and everything." (Tr. at 10). She alleges that he then began "squeezing [her] cheeks" and telling her that she was "very pretty" and "very sexy." (Tr. at 10). When she protested that she didn't like these comments, he told her "oh, no, it's a family." (Tr. at 10).

Plaintiff testified that on the second day she was working for the company, Purmasir came from behind her while she was typing and held onto her shoulders. (Tr. at 10). She also testified that on that day, she was introduced to an individual who Purmasir said was the vice president of the company, but she could not recall the vice president's name. (Tr. at 10). While the vice president was showing her a computer program, Purmasir, who was setting next to the vice president, said to her, "why don't you come and sit on my lap." (Tr. at 11). Ms. Walia responded "no, thank you," and asked Purmasir not to speak to her like that, to which he responded that he was "just joking." (Tr. at 11).

Although she tried to stay away from Purmasir, on another occasion he showed her a catalogue and told her that he had ordered a cocktail dress for her. (Tr. at 11). Again, Ms. Walia told him that she did not want the dress. At the time of this conversation, Purmasir's wife was in the next room.

According to Ms. Walia, Purmasir had asked Walia out for dinner on several occasions beginning on the first day that she started working at the company. When Walia told him that her parents did not allow her to go out for dinner, he said: "I bought this dress so you could go with the company. Everybody goes here, we all go together, things like that." (Tr. at 12). He also told her that if he hadn't been married, plaintiff would have married him. (Tr. at 12). When she responded by asking, "what makes you think that I would have married you," he responded "because I'm rich and I'm graduated from Harvard." (Tr. at 12).

In addition to offering to buy her a cocktail dress, Purmasir told Walia that he would "buy me anything I want if I will go out with him." (Tr. at 12-13). At this point, Walia had decided that she was going to stop working for Purmasir. However, after speaking to someone else about the harassment she had been experiencing, she decided to try one more day. (Tr. at 13).

On that following day, while Purmasir was moving some documentation from another office, he kept "squeezing [her] cheek." (Tr. at 13). Later in the evening, Walia was in the elevator when: "He just grabbed me from back. I didn't even believe that, grabbing me from the back, squeezing my breasts." (Tr. at 13). She pushed him away with her elbow and told him then that she was going to tell his wife. (Tr. at 13, 14). He pleaded with her not to tell his wife, apologized, and told her he would not do it again. (Tr. at 13). She then left the job.

The following day, Purmasir called Walia and told her to come pick up her paycheck. When she arrived at the office, accompanied by her sister, Purmasir told Walia that he would only give her the check if she would promise not to sue. (Tr. at 13). She refused to agree and left without receiving her pay. At that time, Purmasir also threatened to publish things about her that would bring shame to her if she filed a lawsuit. He told her that he would write that she was a "whore ... and nobody will marry [her]." (Tr. at 25).

Later, Ms. Walia learned from several sources that Purmasir had been telling "other people" that she was a "whore" and "a slut, things like that." (Tr. at 15). Specifically, she learned that the father of someone who attended school with her worked for Purmasir and repeated these things. She also heard that Purmasir was telling people that he told her not to come to work "because I came to work wearing a shirt with my buttons open all the way down, things like that, that I'm a whore." (Tr. at 16).² Purmasir also called her at her house after she filed the lawsuit and told her she was a slut and a whore. (Tr. at 16).

When asked to describe how she felt as a result of these statements, Walia explained that she was "ashamed in school" (Tr. at 15), and that "[i]t's insulting ... I didn't know what to say to them. Like everybody's laughing at you." (Tr. at 17).

She further explained that in the Indian community, people blame the woman: "Even guy rape you, for example, it won't be the guy's fault. They will say it is the girl's fault. She was a slut or she did something wrong." (Tr. at 17). She testified that other people blamed her for the situation. When she told another woman in the office that she was going to file suit and asked the woman if she would be a witness against Purmasir, the woman said: "oh, no, you shouldn't do that. You know how our community is.... I can't, but I give you credit for doing that." (Tr. at 17-18). She told Walia not to bring her name into it. (Tr. at 18).

Walia testified that the retaliation continued and escalated into physical threats. (Tr. at 18). One evening as she was walking home from school, a man grabbed her hand and said "you better drop everything. Otherwise, we will take care of your family." (Tr. at 18). She testified that the man was referring to her lawsuit against Purmasir when he told her to drop everything. (Tr. at 18). After this occurred, Walia did not go to school for several days and when she did return to school, she would walk with someone else because she was frightened. (Tr. at 18-19). Although there were no other physical threats, Purmasir made several phone calls to her house, calling her a whore. When he called, he spoke either to Walia or to her sister.

According to plaintiff, all of these events have had a deleterious effect on her life. Her family was opposed to her decision to bring this lawsuit because they believed she would bring more shame to her family. (Tr. at 22). Her sister, in particular, was angry with her "because in our culture, whatever I do, that will affect my sisters. Tomorrow you are married, your husband will find out." (Tr. at 22).

As a result of Purmasir's threats and defamatory statements, Walia stopped talking to people at school "because people were laughing at me." (Tr. at 26). Eventually, she stopped going to classes altogether because she could not concentrate anymore. (Tr. at 30). Prior to the incident with Purmasir, she had successfully held several jobs as a receptionist/cashier for a travel agency for almost one year, and for the post office, sorting mail on a temporary basis. (Tr. at 28-29). After the incident, she did obtain another job as a receptionist in a little company, where she worked for one or two days. She quit after two days "because—there was nothing happening, but the way the owner was talking, I just—." (Tr. at 27). Later, following the incident, she tried to open her own business—a perfume store—but she never actually worked there. She "just didn't want to do work anymore." (Tr. at 29). She stated: "I couldn't do it, because I just feel like any time anybody make a comment, I used to get—" (Tr. at 29).

She testified that before the incident with Purmasir, she had been "very popular" in her own community, going to...