A former Oscar de la Renta employee has filed a racially charged discrimination suit against the famous clothing manufacturer and another female worker who repeatedly used the “N-word” while on duty, The Post has learned.
Erica Diggs, who is black, accused Nora Elezay, who is white, of peppering “all employees of color” with the racial slur, including supervisors, at the Oscar de la Renta warehouse at JFK Airport, court papers state.
Elezay often called Asian employees “Wong Tong” in the presence of Diggs, who began working as a Customer Service Order Entry Assistant for Oscar de la Renta (ODLR) in April 2012, according to the suit.
Tensions soon boiled over on April 19 when Diggs overheard Elezay refer to warehouse associate Ramon Cabral as a “n—–,” the suit says.
Diggs demanded that Elezay to stop using the derogatory term, but Elezay just mocked her and asked why she was so offended when all the other employees didn’t mind, court papers allege.
Diggs quickly reported the incident to her recruiter, Jackie Fischer, who sent an email to Diggs and ODLR Manager Cindy Cheek, expressing “her deepest apologies,” the suit says.
Over the next few days, the suit alleges, Elezay started retaliating against Diggs for making the complaint by acting rude and abrasive toward her.
Cheek then fired Diggs in an email dated April 26, the suit charges.
Diggs’ attorney, Michael Borrelli, soon filed the discrimination suit against Oscar de la Renta, Elezay and Cheek in Queens Supreme Court.
Cheek moved to dismiss the case, but a judge ruled in favor of Diggs.
A preliminary conference is scheduled for next month.