Caryl's Testimony

Full Testimony of Caryl B. Leventhal, Plaintiff

SITE-MAP

THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: Why did judge Shira Scheindlin keep from the jury and court record, evidence and testimony of the rampant terrorist friendly corruption Caryl Leventhal was attempting to stop (You can find it by going to the Sworn Deposition of Brenda Grant).

Why did Judge Shira Scheindlin refuse to allow Caryl Leventhal a short time to secure a new attorney when the one she had was issued a letter of admonition by the courts on September 26, 2000 (the day he was to represent Caryl Leventhal in court concerning her complaint against the US Department of Justice) "for conduct that adversely reflects on his fitness as a lawyer." (On January 6, 2004, Caryl's former lawyer will be suspended from practicing law under charges of "conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation."

Why did Eric B. Fisher, Deputy US Attorney place winning a case over information from this whistleblower that could warn the American people of terrorism? Why did Alan R. Kaufman, Chief of the US Attorney's (Southern District) Criminal Division threaten The Leventhal family with arrest and prosecution if they didn't censor this website to place the US Department of Justice in a better light? Why are they working to place America at risk?

NOTES: Above each page you will find the words "DIRECT," "CROSS," "RE-DIRECT" and "RE-CROSS." Direct Examination involves questions by Caryl Leventhal's attorney. Cross Examination is conducted by one of the US Attorney's. After Cross Examination, Caryl Leventhal's attorney will attempt to clarify any points within the US Attorney's Cross Examination. Lastly, the US Attorney will attempt to rebut in his Re-Cross.

It should be noted that Caryl Leventhal is brain damaged through the ravages of Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, she is an exceptionally frightened plaintiff. She received a prior anti-Semitic death threat (that she taped) on April 26, 1998. It has been duly reported to the US Department of Justice. The US Attorney has a copy of the tape and has subsequently had it kept from trial testimony.

On September 22, 2000... some three days prior to the trial... Mr. Kaufman, Head of the US Attorney's Criminal Division delivered an intimidating message to Mr. Leventhal (Caryl's husband) through her attorney. Ms. Leventhal is desperately frightened that her husband will be killed. Her mental state is near panic. In the ensuing evenings with her husband, she is hysterically crying. She cannot sleep. From the beginning, trial integrity has been compromised. During the testimony of Caryl's husband Michael Leventhal, he attempts to bring up the actions of the Head of the US Attorney Criminal Division. The US Attorney objects and the judge does not allow the jury to hear about it.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2000

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

2 ------------------------------x

3 CARYL B. LEVENTHAL,

4 Plaintiff,

5 v. 99 Civ. 10405 SAS

6 JANET RENO, Hon., Attorney

General of the United States,

Defendant.

------------------------------x

New York, N.Y.

Before:

HON. SHIRA A. SCHEINDLIN,

District Judge

APPEARANCES

15 MICHAEL R. BRESSLER

Attorney for Plaintiff

16 LILA AYERS

SHERILYN DANDRIDGE

MARY JO WHITE

18 United States Attorney for the

Southern District of New York

19 ERIC FISHER

SHEILA GOWAN

20 Assistant United States Attorneys

21 TRIAL

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 have to engage in another maneuver with the podium and then

2 when you finish that, we'll ask you to call the first witness.

3 MR. BRESSLER: Our first witness will be the

4 plaintiff, your Honor. Ms. Ayers will ask the questions.

5 THE COURT: All right. I must say we're not going to

6 be very far because we're going to be taking our luncheon

7 recess in about seven minutes. But we'll take the seven

8 minutes we have and then my clerk will explain to the jury

9 where to gather and how to enter the courtroom, how to leave

10 the courtroom. And then we'll reconvene today at 2:15. We'll

11 stop at a quarter to one and reconvene at 2:15.

12 CARYL LEVENTHAL,

13 called as a witness by the plaintiff

14 having been duly sworn, testified as follows:

15 DIRECT EXAMINATION

16 BY MS. AYERS:

17 Q. Good afternoon, Mrs. Leventhal. How long have you lived

18 at that address?

19 A. I've lived there for 18 years.

20 Q. Are you a native of Brooklyn?

21 A. No, I'm not.

22 Q. Where are you from?

23 A. I'm from a little town in western New York State, Naples,

24 New York, in the Finger Lakes area.

25 Q. Describe the life in Naples New York.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 A. Well, I grew up on a farm. I am the first person in my

2 family off the farm and I had a very typical life. I was in

3 the 4H Club and I went to high school in Naples, and a very

4 nice childhood, I was involved in the -- I think I mentioned

5 the 4H Club.

Note: Repeating things mentioned like membership in the 4H Club is due to plaintiff's Multiple Sclerosis. It causes short term memory problems.

6 Q. What is the 4H Club?

7 A. It's an organization for children, I believe at this time

8 from the ages of 10 to 19, and basically there are various

9 projects that a person can have, cooking, sewing, animal care.

10 My projects were horses. I had a pony and basically it was

11 the idea of being able to have responsibility for the animal,

12 have responsibility for the pony, and I also was involved in

13 what they call, I'm sorry, the cooperative extension where

14 they would go to fairs, the county fair. And I showed my

15 horse, or I should say, my pony, I had responsibility for him,

16 his name was George. So it was a very nice childhood.

17 Q. Can you please describe your educational background?

18 A. Yes. I'm a college graduate, I went to community college

19 in Canadaigua, New York, and I finished there two years and I

20 went to Brooklyn College here, in New York, and I'm a few

21 credits short of a bachelor's.

22 Q. Are you currently employed?

23 A. No, I'm not.

24 Q. Why aren't you?

25 A. I have multiple sclerosis and I can't work.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 Q. Are you officially disabled?

2 A. Yes, I am.

3 Q. Who officially declared you disabled?

4 A. The Social Security Administration, the federal

5 government.

6 Q. When?

7 A. Well, that was, that goes back to I believe officially

8 June of 1996. But it was retroactive.

9 Q. Had you ever been declared disabled before 1996?

10 A. No, I had not.

11 Q. You said the nature of your disability is?

12 A. Multiple sclerosis.

13 Q. When were you first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis?

14 A. I was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I believe,

15 in March of 1992.

16 Q. What symptoms do you have?

17 A. Well, at that time I was working full-time, and I had

18 horrible pain in my eye. And I went blind in, I believe it

19 was my left eye. I continued to go to work every day although

20 it was horrific pain. I would sit on the phone, taking down

21 information, you know, from the various companies that I would

22 be calling and I would be doing my work. And this was a high

23 pressure job which I enjoyed very much but I continued with it

24 and I went to a neurologist, had an examination, I also had a

25 MRI, and the doctor said, I was very, very naïve, I mean I

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 wasn't into -- I -- at that time I didn't understand very much

2 about disease or medicine, and he said, well, it could be

3 either multiple sclerosis or it could be Lyme disease. And I

4 was naïve, I said, I hope it's multiple sclerosis, I had no

5 idea. It turned out that it was multiple sclerosis.

6 Q. What is your understanding of multiple sclerosis?

7 A. Multiple sclerosis, to my understanding, is a neurological

8 disease, and basically it affects the neurons, you know, I'm

9 giving more of a technical explanation. I can only really

10 describe the way it affects me. It's a situation where it

11 affects me physically, but it affects me also mentally where

12 basically it's very difficult, okay, at times to think clearly

13 and coherently.

14 But I'm on a diet right now, I'm not under stress,

Note: Since 1992, Ms. Leventhal has been on a special diet and nutritional plan developed after research by her husband Michael. It has been recommended to others with MS and has proven impressively successful.

15 and I was not under relentless stress when I was working doing

16 market research. It was a very positive type of stress. It

17 was productive stress. It was stress where I was going to

18 every day and I was very proud of the fact that I was beating

19 MS, my MS. I can only speak about my situation. I was going

20 to work every day and I was determined that I would beat MS

21 and I did, I continued with my working at market research.

22 And I did quite well there. They were quite happy with me.

23 Q. Can you briefly describe the history of the symptoms of MS

24 between when you were first diagnosed in 1993 and 1995?

25 A. Okay. Basically from 1992 until 1995, it was really in

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 remission. I didn't have symptoms. I mean, it wasn't a

2 situation where I was not able to go to work, I was able to

3 function, you know, like anyone else which as I said before I

4 was very proud of. I felt very productive, I was very

5 productive. I didn't do a lot of heavy lifting, I didn't do a

6 lot of exercising. I did a lot of walking. It wasn't a

7 situation where I would go jogging or be able to go jogging.

8 But I was able to be productive.

9 Q. Where were you first employed?

10 A. How far back would you like me to go, because I've been

11 employed -- the first time I was employed was when I was in

12 college, I worked part-time as a waitress. That was in high

13 school. Then when I was in college, you know, upstate and

14 when I went to community college at the Finger Lakes, I was a

15 tour guide at a wine cellars in Naples, New York, my hometown,

16 which was a great job. I really enjoyed it because I was with

17 people and it was a situation where I was able to show them

18 the winery, explain how the grapes, you know, were processed

19 into wine.

20 And I was the first woman tour guide there. They

21 were wondering, gee, she would hire a woman or should we have

22 an older man, which they always had. I convinced them that

23 they should try me and I was there for the whole summer and

24 they wanted to keep me longer but the thing of it was, I

25 transferred to college down here.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 Q. Where did you work after the tour guide?

2 A. Okay. Well, after that, I'm trying to think, a major

3 position that I had, well, I consider it major, I was an

4 executive recruiter for a company, I don't know if it's still

5 in business, an executive search firm, Taylor Todd. And that

6 was in the late 1970s.

7 Q. What were your duties and responsibilities there?

8 A. I was an executive recruiter, recruiting programmers,

9 systems analysts, basically people involved in technology.

10 And this was high pressured because it was a situation where

11 basically I had to get on the phones, recruit people, recruit

12 companies, speak to people in personnel, speak to various

13 applicants, basically see them in person, you know, meet them

14 outside, you know, go to companies, you know, speak with the

15 recruiters, I shouldn't say recruiters, personnel and data

16 processing managers in companies.

17 And then, in --

18 THE COURT: I need to interrupt there, so you'll need

19 to remember where you left off. We'll take up there after the

20 luncheon recess.

21 At this time you're excused, but my clerk will take

22 you to the jury room and tell you how to come and go. Please

23 have a good lunch and we'll reconvene promptly at 2:15. Thank

24 you. All rise.

25 (Luncheon recess)

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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1 A F T E R N O O N S E S S I O N

2 2:15 p.m.

3 MR. FISHER: Mr. Bressler identified exhibits that he

4 plans to introduce this afternoon to which defendant has

5 objections.

6 THE COURT: We should have dealt with this last

7 Thursday and Friday. I kept asking, is there more, is there

8 more, is there more.

9 MR. FISHER: We stated all the objections in the

10 pretrial order.

11 THE COURT: Brick the jury in. You leave me no

12 chance now but to do it document by document when I should

13 have done it last Thursday and Friday.

14 MR. BRESSLER: We would like to use an easel if we

15 can for presentation.

16 THE COURT: Ask my deputy when he returns.

17 CARYL LEVENTHAL, resumed.

18 MR. BRESSLER: The exhibits that were marked were

19 submitted -- Ms. Ayers should have them, and then I can give

20 you this book.

21 THE COURT: You have your book.

22 MR. BRESSLER: Those exhibits that are in the book

23 are the exhibits that are premarked. So I think she should

24 have it and you could have another.

25 THE COURT: All right.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 (Jury present)

2 THE COURT: All right, we can continue now with the

3 direct examination of the plaintiff.

4 DIRECT EXAMINATION (Continued)

5 BY MS. AYERS:

6 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, we left off when you were describing your

7 job responsibilities as a recruiter.

8 A. Yes. This was with, I believe, did I start with

9 Intercontinental Data Management?

10 Q. I believe so.

11 A. Okay. This was a recruitment firm that my partner, who

12 later became my husband, and I formed around 1980. And

13 basically we recruited programmers, systems analysts, people

14 in data processing management. And we at various times would

15 have maybe another person working with us but it was

16 essentially the two of us.

17 And what I would do, and also my partner Michael

18 would do, is we would contact companies for openings, also

19 people would come to us, programmers, systems analysts, people

20 in data processing, and we would basically find them

21 positions.

22 And again, conversely, on the other hand, companies

23 would approach us to basically fill their requirements for,

24 again, programmers, systems analysts, people in data

25 processing management.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 Q. How long did you have that business?

2 A. We had that from approximately 1980 until approximately I

3 think 1990, '91.

4 Q. Why did you leave?

5 A. Okay, at that time, at the time that I stopped, I decided

6 that I wanted to -- well, actually let me back up a little

7 bit. I was doing this, okay, in the evenings in the late 80s.

8 But I also wanted to do something a little different. So I

9 was working part-time for Clairol products, the hair coloring,

10 hair care, and I was basically on the phone and I was doing

11 customer relations.

12 I always liked being able to do phone work, I always

13 liked being able to interact with people. And this is a

14 situation where basically I was able to do that and I decided

15 to continue in the evenings as far as recruitment was

16 concerned and I enjoyed that immensely.

17 Q. Where did you work from there?

18 A. Okay. At that time, around 1991, I decided well, I really

19 want something that's going to have more security, a company,

20 in terms of medical benefits and something that's going to be

21 more stable. Because it was a situation where if you have

22 your own company, anyone who has been self-employed, so to

23 speak, you know, you really, are in a sense, on your own in

24 terms of benefits, in terms of stability and that type of

25 thing. So that's when I decided that what I wanted to do was

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 do market research.

2 And I found a position with a company called Reis

3 Reports, it's real estate market research, and basically that

4 was a situation where I was doing phone work, and this was a

5 full-time, 40 hours a week, and basically calling various --

6 we would have various projects in the real estate industry and

7 we would call companies, we would call properties nationwide.

8 And it would be for a particular type of real estate. There

9 would be a particular project such as apartment building, say

10 for example in Philadelphia, and basically to get information

11 about the property such as how much they were renting office

12 space per square foot as well as residential as well as

13 warehouse. That type of thing. So there were different

14 categories.

15 And I did very well with that and they liked my --

16 they liked me very much, they liked my work and it was a

17 situation where basically I was very happy there.

18 Q. What was your title at Reis Reports?

19 A. I was a telephone surveyor.

20 Q. How long did you work at Reis Reports?

21 A. I was there from I believe it was September of 1991 until

22 it was the spring of 1995.

23 Q. Was your job performance formally evaluated?

24 A. Yes, it was.

25 Q. I would like to show you what has been previously marked

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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C. Leventhal - direct

1 as Plaintiff's Exhibit 5 for identification.

2 THE COURT: This is from the prior employment?

3 MS. AYERS: Yes.

4 THE COURT: What's the relevance of that? Do you

5 object to this, Mr. Fisher, is this one of the ones you object

6 to or not?

7 MR. FISHER: Yes, but we withdraw the objection.

8 THE COURT: All right.

9 (Handed to the witness)

10 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, can you identify that?

11 A. Yes, yes, I can.

12 Q. Can you tell me what it is.

13 A. Yes, this is a performance review that I had gotten from

14 Reis Reports, and the review period at that time started

15 September 30, 1993 and ended October 3, 1994. And I was

16 reviewed according to this September 30, 1993.

17 Q. Were you personally given this evaluation?

18 A. Yes, I was.

19 Q. Is there a signature on --

20 A. Yes, my signature -- I'm sorry -- my signature, as well as

21 my manager's signature.

22 Q. And does this evaluation refer to you?

23 A. Yes, it does.

24 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I would like to have this

25 moved into evidence as --

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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1 THE COURT: There being no objection, the exhibit is

2 received.

3 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 5 received in evidence)

4 Q. Did you decide to leave Reis Reports?

5 A. Yes, I did.

6 Q. Why?

7 A. I decided to leave Reis Reports because there were

8 rumors -- for two reasons, actually. There were rumors in

9 late 1994, early 1995 that they would be leaving New York

10 City, and it was a situation where I wanted to stay here. I

11 mean I really love living in New York, I didn't want to leave.

12 And also it was a situation where their medical benefits -- it

13 was a situation where the business manager, okay, was very,

14 which business managers are supposed to do, was very aware of

15 costs, and he was very concerned about medical costs. And

16 each employee paid into the medical plan, which I did as well,

17 being an employee there. And I decided well, I want to be in

18 a company that's not going to move out of the area, will not

19 go out of business and what company will do that in my

20 lifetime? The federal government.

21 Q. Where did you decide to work?

22 A. I started looking in, I believe the name of the

23 publication was the Federal Digest, basically giving listings

24 of positions in the federal government. So I started looking

25 at the various positions and I saw one for -- I'm sorry, this

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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1 is difficult for me, I have to stop and think for a second.

2 Well, basically again I was looking for a position in the

3 federal government as I just said and I saw one that appealed

4 to me. That was supervisory -- basically a supervisor. And I

5 said this looks very interesting. And this was Immigration

6 and Naturalization and I started to apply which I did in the

7 fall of 1994.

8 Q. What steps did you take to secure employment with the

9 United States Government?

10 A. I submitted an application and I waited and I didn't hear

11 anything. And when I thought that I wasn't going to get a

12 call, I did get a call from the personnel office at 26 Federal

13 Plaza for INS. I got a phone call, I believe her name was

14 Stephanie Braun, okay. She was in what they call

15 administration. And she invited me to come in and to fill out

16 paperwork, to fill out an application which I had submitted

17 before, and to also come in and basically take a physical.

18 And also fill out forms for a security check.

19 Q. Then what happened after you applied?

20 A. Okay. Then after a few weeks, maybe three weeks, I got a

21 call to come in for an interview and the interview was with a

22 Ms. Chi and also a Ms. Rose Chapman. And the interview went

23 very well. It was a very cordial interview. It lasted for I

24 would say probably an hour, hour and a half.

25 And both of them told me that I was just the person

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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1 that they were looking for. They were very impressed with my

2 experience, both in Intercontinental Data Management as a

3 recruiter and also they liked my people skills, they liked the

4 way I was able to interact with different types of people,

5 okay. They liked the way I was able to interact with people

6 as a telephone surveyor at Reis Reports.

7 And basically I had also gone with another

8 individual, I have forgotten her name, I think it was a

9 Ms. Pritchard, to the 10th floor and we were sitting on the

10 10th floor in Section 245, I should say --

11 THE COURT: This answer is getting very long and

12 rambling. It needs to be pointed to the question, no long

13 narrative answers. What is your question? Very specifically

14 now.

15 Q. Can you describe the interview.

16 A. I'm sorry, yes. The interview, as I said before, was very

17 positive. They wanted to make me an offer on the spot but

18 they said that I would have to go through paperwork, I'd have

19 to fill out another application and also they wanted to do a

20 reference check.

21 Q. Did you have to undergo any security or background check?

22 A. Yes, I did.

23 Q. Do you know what kind they were?

24 A. Well, basically it was a situation where they did a full

25 investigation, a full security check. Also I had to go to a

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1 doctor that they had specified for I believe it was a blood

2 test as well as, you know, a urine test.

3 Q. Did you notify Reis of your intentions?

4 A. I notified Reis of my intentions when I got the initial

5 offer.

6 Q. And what did they tell you?

7 A. When I had gotten the initial offer from Reis, excuse me,

8 when I had gotten the initial offer from Immigration and

9 Naturalization, a Mr. Robert Brouillet called and he wanted me

10 to start immediately. He wanted me to start I believe it was,

11 I believe it was May 5th, I might be a little shaky on the

12 dates here, forgive me, but he wanted me to start immediately,

13 actually that week. I said, well, I'd like to give three

14 weeks to my former employer, Reis Reports. I feel I owe them

15 that. I want to give them three weeks' notice so they would

16 be able to find someone to replace me. And he says well, I

17 want you to start here and I said I'm sorry, I can't. So we

18 decided upon a specific date and what I did is I wrote out a

19 resignation to Reis Reports, I gave it to my manager, I

20 believe her name was Kerry Shapiro, and they were very sorry

21 to see me go.

22 Q. Did you start on that date?

23 A. No, I did not.

24 Q. Why not?

25 A. I got a call from Robert Brouillet, and he said you can't

SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C.

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1 start. I said, why can't I start, I've given notice. He says

2 well you can't start, you're on a list, there's people ahead

3 of you. I says, well, what does that mean. He says they have

4 points, they're ahead of you. I said what does that mean. I

5 was very upset. I had given notice.

6 THE COURT: This strikes me as irrelevant. When did

7 you start?

Note: This is not irrelevant. It took five months for the plaintiff to begin work at INS after her offer. She was made an offer in May 1995 and didn't begin until late October 1995. She had given notice to her then present employer and was subsequently terminated. For months she was unemployed. She was only taken on by INS after getting a solid offer because her husband secured the aid of Hillary Clinton (the First Lady) and NY Senator Al D'Amato.

8 THE WITNESS: I did not start.

9 THE COURT: You didn't start?

10 THE WITNESS: I did not start.

11 THE COURT: We're not talking about this job?

12 THE WITNESS: I did not start at INS. I did not

13 start.

14 THE COURT: You never worked at INS?

15 THE WITNESS: I did not start at that time.

16 THE COURT: When did you get to INS?

17 A. I finally got to the INS, I'm sorry, in I believe it was

18 late September of 1995.

19 THE COURT: That should be when the story starts.

Note: That should not be when the story starts. Ms. Leventhal's filed complaint and four years within the internal INS Administrative process includes the period between May 1995 and the day she physically began work in late October 1995. The trial judge has arbitrarily deleted five months of relevant discrimination testimony.

20 Ask a question about that.

21 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor --

22 THE COURT: What? I'm not taking anything that

23 happened before the day she showed up. It's irrelevant.

24 Let's get to the heart of the matter. What's the first day of

25 work?

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1 THE WITNESS: September 23, 1995.

2 THE COURT: Ask a question about September 23, 1995.

3 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, some of these questions are

4 during that process where --

5 THE COURT: That's not before me.

6 Q. When did you finally start at INS, I'm sorry?

7 A. I finally started at INS on September 23, 1995.

8 Q. Were you in good health?

9 A. Yes, I was.

10 Q. What section of the INS did you work in?

11 A. Section 245.

12 Q. What was the function of that section?

13 A. Basically to process applications for -- I'm sorry, for

14 green cards as well as citizenship.

15 Q. How many people worked in Section 245?

16 A. Anywhere from 15 to 20.

17 Q. What was the racial composition of Section 245 when you

18 began working there?

19 A. Predominantly African-American, with two older white

20 people and one Asian woman.

21 Q. What was your job title?

22 A. I was supervisory applications clerk.

23 Q. Were you told what your duties and responsibilities would

24 be as supervisory application clerk?

25 A. I was to supervise the applications clerks as well as what

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1 they called the automation clerks, which were basically

2 typists, to basically make sure that the work moved, that the

3 applications moved.

4 Q. Did you ever receive a copy of the responsibilities,

5 performance responsibilities?

6 A. At that time I did not.

7 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I would like to show what has

8 been marked as Plaintiff's Exhibit 9.

9 THE COURT: Is there any objection to this exhibit?

10 MR. FISHER: No, your Honor.

11 THE COURT: All right, go ahead.

12 (Handed to the witness)

13 Q. Can you identify that, Mrs. Leventhal?

14 A. This is a position description for a supervisory

15 applications clerk.

16 Q. Does this description coincide with your understanding of

17 what your job performance and responsibilities were?

18 A. If I may say, I did not see this until much later. I did

19 not see this when I first started at INS.

20 Q. Do you remember seeing this document?

21 A. I saw this much later.

22 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I ask that this be moved into

23 evidence as Plaintiff's Exhibit 9.

24 THE COURT: There being no objection, Exhibit 9 is

25 received.

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1 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 9 received in evidence)

2 Q. Were you introduced to your supervisors, Ms. Leventhal?

3 A. Yes, I was.

4 Q. Who were they?

5 A. I was introduced to two individuals initially, a Brenda

6 Grant who was my first line supervisor, and then a Gwen

7 MacPherson, who was my second line supervisor.

8 Q. What does first line and second line mean?

9 A. First line supervisor is a person that you report to

10 normally. If that person isn't available, then you go to your

11 second line supervisor. But the first line supervisor is a

12 person that you go to with any questions basically as far as

13 the type -- basically monitoring the type of work that has to

14 be done on a daily basis. That's the first person you report

15 to.

16 Q. And your second line?

17 A. Second line supervisor, you report to him or her if the

18 first line supervisor is not available.

19 Q. Can you describe your first line supervisor, Ms. Brenda

20 Grant?

21 A. Ms. Brenda Grant is African-American. The first thing she

22 said to me when I started there is, "if you leave now, I'll

23 give you a good reference." I was shocked.

24 Q. Can you describe this Gwen MacPherson?

25 A. Ms. Gwen MacPherson is a white woman who I later found out

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1 is married to an African-American with a young child at that

2 time. She struck me as being very silly, someone who really

3 wasn't very professional.

4 Q. And what did she tell you?

5 A. She told me very little.

6 Q. When Ms. Grant told you if you leave now she'll give you a

7 good evaluation, what was your reaction?

8 A. She told me that she would give me a good reference. And

9 as I said before, I was shocked. And I said, "I don't want to

10 leave, I just started."

11 THE COURT: How long had you been there when she said

12 that to you?

13 THE WITNESS: That was the first day.

14 THE COURT: The first day?

15 THE WITNESS: Yes.

16 Q. What were you told to do the first few months of your

17 employment?

18 A. I was told by Brenda Grant to move the work as quickly as

19 possible, move the cases as quickly as possible.

20 Q. And how did you do that?

21 A. Basically the idea was -- as the supervisory applications

22 clerk, which was my title -- was to assign the work to the

23 clerical staff, make sure that they had completed it and just

24 to move it onto the next stage.

25 Q. What did you do, how did you do that?

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1 A. Well, basically when I would ask questions, okay, I would

2 ask questions because I was new and I had been told during my

3 interviewing process, I explained, I don't know how to do this

4 position and they said, don't worry, they'll train you on the

5 spot, excuse me, they'll train you when you're actually in the

6 position. You don't have anything to worry about. We will

7 train you.

8 The problem with that was I would go to Brenda Grant,

9 I would go to even Gwen MacPherson, more often Brenda Grant

10 because she was there on the floor, the 10th floor I believe,

11 she sat only I believe 10 feet away from me and I would ask

12 questions how to do the work and she would say to me, "you

13 should know how to do this yourself."

14 Q. Did you perform any duties that were not in your job

15 responsibilities or performances?

16 A. Yes, I did.

17 Q. Such as?

18 A. Such as heavy lifting, lifting boxes filled with files,

19 and basically the idea -- look, I'm a small person. Even in

20 the best condition, I'm not a warehouse man. But I was

21 expected to lift cases of heavy files.

22 Q. Did you have any difficulties performing these tasks?

23 A. Yes, I did. And I told Ms. Grant that I was having

24 problems. I said "I need help." She says "you have to do

25 this yourself."

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1 Q. You complained to your supervisor?

2 A. Yes, I did.

3 Q. Anyone else besides Ms. Grant?

4 A. Well, I would speak to my clerks. I would say I need help

5 with this. I would speak to my lead clerk, a Ms. Delores

6 Filbert, I would say I need help with this. And they would

7 say, it's not our job. We have our own work to do, it's not

8 our job.

9 Q. Did you explain to Ms. Grant once?

10 A. Several times. Several times.

11 Q. Who did you ask assistance from?

12 A. I asked assistance from Delores Filbert, my lead clerk,

13 and her response was to sit on her chair by her desk and stuff

14 her face with cookies and crackers. She said, "I have too

15 much work to do." And her desk was filled with stacks of

16 files which she wasn't even doing. And she refused to help

17 me. She said, "I don't have time for this." She said, "you

18 have to do this yourself."

19 Q. Besides Ms. Filbert, did you ask anyone else for

20 assistance?

21 A. Yes, I did.

22 Q. Who?

23 A. I asked my clerks, my application clerks as well as the

24 clerks that were in the area, in Section 245. And they said

25 we have our own work to do. This is not our job, it's not our

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1 job.

Note: This is crucial as is motivation. Ms. Leventhal was (for various discriminatory reasons) the "outsider." Almost immediately, she was aware of an environment of on-site criminal activity relative to the selling of Green Cards. Caryl made many attempts to stop this behavior. Under cross-examination of Brenda Grant (Caryl's main antagonist and supervisor), Ms. Leventhal's attorney attempts to show documented criminal activity where some 15-20% of Ms. Grant's staff including those under Caryl's watch were subsequently arrested. The judge refuses to allow this testimony. Ms. Leventhal's clerks hated Ms. Leventhal's efforts and refused her any help.

2 Q. Do you remember anyone else's name besides Ms. Filbert?

3 A. Ms. Filbert, Ms. Grant said to me, Ms. Grant told me "you

4 have to do this yourself," okay. Basically, it was a

5 situation where I was sitting there doing this alone.

6 Q. Did you complain to Ms. Grant regarding your subordinates

7 not following your directions?

8 A. Yes, I did.

9 Q. And what happened?

10 A. Well, often times my subordinates, they felt I was being

11 unfair asking them, you know, for help and they would run into

12 her office and I would see Ms. Grant and I can remember one

13 individual, a David Isaacs, and I had left work for him to do

14 for that morning because he was coming in early for some

15 overtime. And I came in that morning at seven o'clock, excuse

16 me, yes, I believe it was 7:30 I would come in and the work

17 had not been completed. And I would say, "David, why hasn't

18 this been done?" And he said, "well, I don't have to listen

19 to you," so he ran into Brenda Grant's office and he and

20 Brenda Grant were standing outside Brenda Grant's office

21 laughing. And then, of course, she came to me and she says

22 "why are you criticizing David Isaacs."

23 Q. What did you say?

24 A. I said "because he hasn't completed the work that he was

25 assigned. And this is overtime for him."

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1 Q. Did any of this change throughout your time at INS?

2 A. It remained basically the same, because I was trying to

3 get them to do their work rather than wandering in the

4 hallways, rather than just disappearing. Much of my time was

5 spent rounding up people and getting them to go back to the

6 work -- I'm sorry, go back to their desk and sit down and

7 actually do their work.

8 Q. Did you have any mental or physical reactions to these

9 duties?

10 A. I found after the second week there, it was very difficult

11 because I was doing heavy lifting, which is not in my job

12 description, and I was having severe headaches, I was having

13 severe leg and arm aches because I was doing this lifting, you

14 know, lifting boxes of heavy files. Because at that time, I

15 don't mean to interrupt, but at that time there was a program

16 called Citizenship USA and the idea was to process as many

17 applications as possible, whether they were done accurately or

18 not.

19 Q. Did there come a time when you had a change in management?

20 A. Yes.

21 Q. When was that?

22 A. That was January of 1996.

23 Q. What was the change?

24 A. At that time, a Ms. Agatha Stewart became my first line

25 supervisor, and Ms. Grant, Ms. Brenda Grant, became my second

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1 line supervisor.

2 Q. Do you know anything about Ms. Agatha Stewart's family

3 life?

4 A. Ms. Agatha Stewart is Caucasian --

5 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance.

6 THE COURT: Yes, sustained.

7 Q. Did your job conditions improve since Ms. Stewart took

8 over?

9 A. No, they did not.

10 Q. During the time that Ms. Stewart was your first line

11 supervisor, did she have primary contact with you?

12 A. No, she did not.

13 Q. Did you ever complain to Ms. Stewart about your job

14 conditions?

15 A. Yes, I did.

16 Q. When?

17 A. I would see her -- I wouldn't see her every day because

18 she was on the 8th floor and I was on the 10th floor. But

19 when I saw her, and she would come up every other day or I

20 would be on the 8th floor and it would be a situation where I

21 would say, Ms. Stewart, we were on a first name basis, I would

22 say, "Agatha, I can't do this heavy lifting. This is killing

23 me. I'm in pain. I'm having horrible problems with this. I

24 need help." She says, "we all have to do this ourselves, you

25 have to do this yourself."

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1 Q. Did Ms. Stewart take any actions to help you?

2 A. No, she did not.

3 Q. Were you given an office or a desk or a work station?

4 A. Yes, I was given a desk.

5 Q. Did you ever decorate that space?

6 A. Now, when you say decorate, by putting pictures?

7 Q. Whatever.

8 A. I didn't really decorate it, no.

9 Q. Why not?

10 A. Well, other people had pictures of their children and

11 their husbands, you know, on their desk. I wanted to put a

12 picture of my husband and my stepson on my desk. I showed a

13 picture of my husband in his military uniform, he's in the New

14 York State Guard, and he was wearing his military uniform and

15 I was very proud of him and I still am and I showed, I believe

16 it was Gwen MacPherson, a picture of my husband.

17 And she just looked at it like she had seen something

18 disgusting. I said, "I'm going to put this on my desk." And

19 she just looked at it like -- you know, just made a face, just

20 made a face. So I said to myself, I'm not going to put it on

21 my desk now because I really don't want people making faces at

22 a picture of my husband.

23 Q. How did that make you feel?

24 A. I found it very upsetting.

25 Q. Did you have any other employees under you?

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1 A. Yes.

2 Q. How many?

3 A. I had approximately 15 to 20 employees.

4 Q. What was their racial composition?

5 A. They were predominantly African-American.

6 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance.

7 THE COURT: I'll allow that. Go ahead.

8 A. They were predominantly African-American. One individual

9 was, I believe she was Chinese. And there were two or three

10 older white people who had been there for many, many years.

11 Q. Did you ever work with African-American people before?

12 A. Yes, I have.

13 Q. When?

14 A. I worked with African-Americans when I was in, I believe,

15 at Reis Reports I believe there's one or two at various times

16 and also prior to that, when I was with Intercontinental Data

17 Management, we recruited people no matter what their racial

18 background was.

19 Q. Were you ever close with African-American people?

20 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance.

21 THE COURT: I'll allow it. Go ahead.

22 A. The best man at my wedding was African-American,

23 originally from Trinidad.

24 Q. Did you ever encounter any difficulties with any

25 particular employees?

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1 A. Yes, I did.

2 Q. With whom?

3 A. One person who comes to mind is a Shawn Davis.

4 Q. What was your problem with Mr. Shawn Davis?

5 A. The problem with Mr. Shawn Davis was he was chronically

6 late, chronically late for work. The idea was to come in and

7 sign the sign-in sheet which was on my desk, and if, say, for

8 example, if you were going to be late, to call as soon as

9 possible.

10 Many times he would not even call. And if this is a

11 situation where the person doesn't call after a period of

12 time, the person is marked AWOL.

13 Q. What is AWOL?

14 A. That's absent without official leave.

15 Q. Did you ever mark Mr. Shawn Davis AWOL?

16 A. Yes, I did.

17 Q. Did you make a formal complaint about him?

18 A. Yes, I did.

19 Q. I'd like to show you what's been previously marked as

20 Plaintiff's Exhibit 15.

21 THE COURT: Is there going to be any objection to

22 this one, Mr. Fisher?

23 MR. FISHER: It depends on what purpose it's offered

24 for.

25 (Handed to the witness)

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1 THE COURT: Ms. Ms. Ayers, what purpose are you

2 offering this document for?

3 MS. AYERS: That she --

4 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, that's subject to

5 connection and we'd like an opportunity to explore it.

6 THE COURT: Ms. Ayers, what purpose are you offering

7 this document for?

8 MS. AYERS: It's basically, your Honor, what

9 Mr. Bressler said. It's connecting to something that we're

10 going to get into later on.

11 THE COURT: Let's not be mysterious.

12 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, basically, this shows

13 first Ms. Leventhal's job conditions. Second, it shows Brenda

14 Grant's management and how she reacted to this particular

15 complaint. And basically it's relevant to the working

16 conditions on her job which is what this case is all about.

17 MR. FISHER: Your Honor, I object on the grounds of

18 relevance.

19 THE COURT: Sustained. I've read this. It's from

20 Ms. Leventhal to Shawn Davis telling him not to be late all

21 the time. Not to be late, not to take leave. Isn't that

22 right?

23 MR. FISHER: Well, what's relevant is what happened

24 after this was --

25 THE COURT: You can ask her, without using the

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1 document, did there ever come a time when she imposed any

2 discipline or any warning on Mr. Davis.

3 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry, should I answer?

4 THE COURT: Sure.

5 A. As I said before, Shawn Davis was chronically late. And I

6 spoke with him many times, "you must call, you must tell me if

7 you're going to be late." And it was almost like a game with

8 him because when he was late, and he would come in late and I

9 would mark him AWOL. And then he would go to Brenda Grant and

10 she would yell at me. And she would insist that I change the

11 AWOL to a different category.

12 THE COURT: AWOL stands for what?

13 THE WITNESS: Absent without official leave.

14 THE COURT: So she told you to change the category.

15 THE WITNESS: Yes, she did.

16 Q. What is the race of Mr. Davis?

17 A. He's African-American.

18 Q. Do you know what happened to Mr. Davis?

19 A. I found out later --

20 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance.

21 THE COURT: Sustained.

Note: What happened to Sean Davis is very important. We have documented evidence that he was one of the 20% of Brenda Grant's staff arrested for INS on-site criminal activity and terminated. Brenda Grant was always covering for him and forcing Caryl to remove AWOL's.

22 Q. Did you ever have anything to do with Ms. Celeste

23 Praither?

24 A. Yes, I did. She was a DAO, a district adjudication

25 officer. I was not in her chain of command, I mean I did not

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1 supervise her, but I would see her in the office and we would

2 speak. And one day, on more than one occasion, she said to

3 me, "would you like to make money." And I looked at her and I

4 said no. And she said "would you like to make extra money."

5 I said no. She said, "well, I can tell you how to make

6 money," and I said no because I was getting very suspicious at

7 that point.

8 Q. Did the New York INS office get other press attention to

9 your knowledge?

10 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevant. And lack of

11 foundation.

12 THE COURT: Repeat the question.

13 Q. Did New York INS's office get any other press attention to

14 your knowledge?

15 A. Yes, it did.

16 THE COURT: Objection sustained.

17 Q. Did you ever learn more about Ms. Celeste Praither?

18 A. I suspected that --

19 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance.

20 THE COURT: This one I don't know who the relevance.

21 Who is this person?

22 THE WITNESS: She was a DAO, a district adjudication

23 officer. Basically she would be interviewing, she would be

24 one of the individuals that would interview applicants for

25 citizenship.

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1 THE COURT: Did you supervise her?

2 THE WITNESS: No, I did not.

3 THE COURT: Did she supervise you?

4 THE WITNESS: No, she did not.

5 THE COURT: Objection sustained.

Note: Come on your honor. Celeste Prather was also arrested and terminated for criminal activity. She worked for Brenda Grant and attempted to get Caryl involved in this corrupt behavior. Again, some 20% of Brenda Grant's staff was subsequently arrested for on-site criminal activity. It cut to the heart of the extreme hostility displayed towards Caryl by employees in the area in which she worked.

6 Q. Any problems with any of the employees besides Shawn

7 Davis?

8 A. One person that I had problems with, I had mentioned him

9 before, I think his name was Isaacs, that was his last name,

10 there was a problem with him. One person who also really

11 stands out was Delores Filbert who was the lead clerk.

12 Delores Filbert, that lead clerk is there to assist the

13 supervisory applications clerk, which is what I was. That was

14 my position. She was there, that position is there to assist

15 basically in handing out the cases, to basically make sure

16 that the work has been done correctly and to make sure that

17 the cases are being done correctly. And she would not help.

18 Her thing was to sit, eat crackers, eat cookies. She was

19 basically Brenda Grant's toady. They with very close.

20 THE COURT: Brenda Grant's toady?

21 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry, toady, yes.

22 A. And she would basically run to Brenda Grant any time that

23 I said something that she disagreed with, such as do your

24 work. "Can I have some help passing out files, could you

25 please help me, Delores," and she would run in and talk to

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1 Brenda Grant and Brenda Grant would come running out and she

2 would yell at me.

3 Q. Did you bring your problems to the attention of Ms. Grant

4 or Ms. Stewart?

5 A. Yes, I did.

6 Q. And what was their response?

7 A. Well, basically Brenda Grant's attitude was, "you must do

8 this yourself, you have to do it yourself."

9 Q. How did that make you feel?

10 A. It made me feel that I was alone. It made me feel that I

11 was isolated, because I was not getting any backup from my

12 manager.

13 Q. How would you describe Ms. Grant's management style?

14 A. Very erratic. She had a -- basically she played

15 favorites, whether she liked you or she didn't like you. And

16 I felt that she was very racial. I mean, she was very

17 friendly with Delores Filbert who is Caucasian, but she

18 favored, she favored African-Americans.

19 Q. Did Ms. Grant have office meetings?

20 A. Yes, she did.

21 Q. Who attended these meetings?

22 A. Okay. I was supposed to attend but I was not told when

23 they would be held. That was a problem, because as a

24 supervisory applications clerk I was supposed to be there.

25 Also, too, another person that would be there would be Agatha

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1 Stewart as well as Gwen MacPherson, okay, who I believe at

2 that time was Brenda Grant's, you know, first line supervisor.

3 Q. Did you ever attend any of these meetings?

4 A. One or two.

5 Q. How were you treated by your own staff?

6 A. My staff, because they saw what was going on, did not --

7 basically they would not listen. It was a situation I felt

8 like I was supervising people who did not take their work

9 seriously, who did not want to actually sit down and do their

10 work. They were cloistered in the hallways, I had to chase

11 them down the hallways, and basically it was a situation where

12 they wouldn't listen to me and they'd laugh at me and they'd

13 say, "she's not like us," I heard them saying that when they

14 thought I was out of earshot, "she's not like us, she's not

15 one of us."

16 Q. Did you try to discipline them in some way?

17 A. Yes, yes, I did. I tried to get them to sit down and

18 actually do their work.

19 Q. Did you ask Ms. Grant or Ms. Stewart for assistance?

20 A. Yes, I did.

21 Q. Ms. Leventhal, what faith do you practice?

22 A. Judaism.

23 Q. When did you begin practicing Judaism?

24 A. Around 1980, 1982.

25 Q. Do you continue practicing Judaism?

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1 A. Yes, I do.

2 Q. What do you do in practicing your religion?

3 A. I, along with my husband, observe the major holidays such

4 as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukkah, Passover and although

5 we don't keep kosher, I don't eat pork, I don't eat shellfish,

6 my husband doesn't either. And we basically, you know,

7 observe dietary laws and we belong to a synagogue.

8 Q. Did you ever discuss religion with Ms. Grant?

9 A. Yes, I did.

10 Q. Do you recall the first conversation you had about

11 religion with her?

12 A. Yes. Ms. Grant brought this up in November of 1995. She

13 saw me wearing a small Star of David and she says, "what's

14 that?" And I said, "that's the Star of David." And she said

15 oh. And she said, "you're a Jew?" And I said, "not

16 originally." I said, "originally, my family was Methodist,

17 Protestant, but I observe the Jewish religion." And she said,

18 "you're not a Jew." And I said, "but I am, I observe the

19 Jewish religion, I observe Judaism." She said, "you're not a

20 Jew."

21 Q. Did you often discuss religion with her?

22 A. She would bring it up. She would bring it up once or

23 twice a week.

24 Q. Did Ms. Grant express an opinion to you about Judaism?

25 A. Well, she was trying very hard either in front -- in her

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1 office or in front of the clerks, the clerical staff, to say

2 that I wasn't really a Jew because I hadn't been born a Jew so

3 I wasn't a Jew. And she would say it in a very disparaging

4 way, "Leventhal thinks she's a Jew but she's not a Jew" and

5 they would all laugh.

6 Q. Did you ever do anything to obey Jewish law or celebrate

7 any Jewish holidays on the job?

8 A. Yes.

9 Q. What did you do?

10 A. In 1995, during the holiday season, Agatha Stewart and

11 Brenda Grant were putting up Christmas decorations which is

12 fine. They had boxes of Christmas decorations and they were

13 putting them up. And I said to Ms. Grant, "I'd like to put up

14 a small menorah on my desk." She said, "no Jewish things

15 here." I said, "but Ms. Grant, this is my holiday, I just

16 want to observe it. I just want to put this small menorah on

17 my desk," and she said, "no Jewish things here."

18 Q. Did you celebrate any other holiday?

19 A. Yes, I did. I celebrated, well I just mentioned

20 Chanukkah, also Passover. I was sitting at my desk and rather

21 than -- during Passover we eat matzoh, I which is unleavened

22 bread. The idea is not to eat anything with leavening, cakes,

23 cookies that kind of thing. So I was eating Chanukkah --

24 excuse me, I was eating matzoh at my desk, and she came over

25 and said, "what are you doing." And I said, "I'm having some

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1 lunch." I said, "that's matzoh." She said, "what why are you

2 eating that?" I said, "it's Passover, we don't eat anything

3 with leavening during Passover." She said, "don't eat that.

4 You don't have to eat that, you're not a Jew." And I said,

5 "but Ms. Grant, I am a Jew, and I'm eating this because I

6 can't eat any cookies or cakes or anything with leavening."

7 Q. What was the reaction of your staff?

8 A. My staff basically just laughed and they basically took

9 their cue from Brenda Grant and behind my back, but within

10 earshot, "she thinks she's a Jew," they would say, "she thinks

11 she's a Jew but she's not a Jew and she's not like us."

12 Q. Did you ever ask to have a day off to observe a Jewish

13 holiday?

14 A. Yes, I did.

15 Q. What holiday?

16 A. That was Yom Kippur of 1996.

17 Q. Can you describe what happened?

18 A. What happened in that time is basically this was when we

19 were, I believe this was February of 1996 and we were making

20 up the schedule for leave of absence, holidays, you know for

21 my clerical staff. I should say the clerical staff. And

22 basically, I had put down that I wanted to take off Yom

23 Kippur. And also, one clerk, I believe his name was, the name

24 slips me at the moment, but he had been there for many years,

25 okay, Mel Wasserman. He was taking off Yom Kippur. Also my

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1 lead clerk, Delores Filbert, who was not Jewish, wanted that

2 same day off.

3 And I said Delores, "I can't give you this day off

4 because we need coverage on the floor, because I'm not going

5 to be in that day, you know. I'm sorry, but I can't give you

6 that day off." I said, "why would you want that off?" She

7 says, "I take Yom Kippur off every day with my daughter who

8 works for a Jewish company. And she always takes that day off

9 and we take the day off together."

10 Well, when Ms. Grant saw the schedule, she called me

11 into her office and she was very upset and she was yelling at

12 me and she said, "you're not a Jew and I'm not giving you that

13 day off." She even sent me a memo. I'm paraphrasing, I don't

14 have the memo in front of me, she said who gave you this day

15 off. And she told me, she said, Delores Meissner, excuse me,

16 I'm sorry, "Delores Filbert has this day off, I'm not giving

17 you this day off." I was very upset. Very upset. Because

18 this is the highest, most important holiday in my religion. I

19 will not and do not work on Yom Kippur.

20 Q. I'd like to show you what has been previously marked as

21 Plaintiff's Exhibit 16.

22 (Handed to the witness)

23 Q. Can you identify this document?

24 A. I'm sorry?

25 Q. Can you identify that document?

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1 A. Yes.

2 Q. Can you tell me what it is?

3 A. Yes. The first one is the memo from Brenda Grant and it

4 says, "was every clerical employee asked to submit their

5 vacation requests. I believe you're missing many of your

6 employees." Now, what was really the upsetting thing -- and

7 she said, "and who approved your leave. Is it a good idea to

8 take off the same day as your lead clerk." The day in

9 question was Yom Kippur.

10 THE COURT: Is she saying this for next Yom Kippur or

11 the one that was past?

12 THE WITNESS: The next one.

13 THE COURT: In February she's talking about the next

14 September?

15 THE WITNESS: Yes. The next one because we're making

16 up the schedule for the following year. And here I have the

17 annual leave schedule and it says October, excuse me, ah, I'm

18 sorry, September 23rd, September 23, 1996, and that was Yom

19 Kippur that year. And it has down Leventhal, Filbert, that

20 was my lead clerk, who is not Jewish and does not, you know,

21 observe Judaism, and Mel Wasserman, okay, who was one of the

22 applications clerks. And we were listed for, I had it listed

23 each of us to take off that day and that's basically where the

24 problem came about with Delores Filbert as far as her

25 insisting that she wanted that day off and also the problem

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1 that I had with Brenda Grant saying "I'm not giving you that

2 day off because we need coverage on the floor."

3 MS. AYERS: Your Honor I'd like to move this into

4 evidence as Plaintiff's Exhibit 16.

5 MR. FISHER: No objection.

6 THE COURT: Received.

7 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 16 received in evidence)

8 Q. Did you go in to see Ms. Grant about having a day off?

9 A. Yes.

10 Q. How many times?

11 A. Several times. I went not just when this incident

12 happened but this was something that I had to have, a day that

13 I had to have off. This was Yom Kippur, the most important

14 day of my faith. And I would come, I would go into her office

15 at least once or twice a week and I'd say, "Ms. Grant, please,

16 I need this day, this is very important to me. I must have

17 Yom Kippur off. I must."

18 And she would laugh at me. And she would say, "I'm

19 not giving you that day off. Get out of my office. Don't

20 bother me with this."

21 Q. Do you know who the commissioner of INS is?

22 A. Yes, I do.

23 Q. Who is she?

24 A. That's Doris Meissner.

25 Q. Did Ms. Meissner ever visit your office?

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1 A. She did. I believe --

2 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance.

3 THE COURT: I don't know. It depends if she made

4 some statement that might be offered. She personally visited

5 your office?

6 THE WITNESS: Yes, she visited 26 Federal Plaza.

7 THE COURT: Did she say anything to you?

8 THE WITNESS: I did not meet her personally.

9 THE COURT: Objection sustained.

10 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, you testified that Mrs. Grant told you

11 when you were hired that if you leave now she'll give you a

12 good reference.

13 A. Yes.

14 Q. Did she ever tell you this again?

15 A. Several times. Several times. This was almost a weekly

16 if not biweekly, occurrence. If not more.

17 Q. Did you ever receive a formal evaluation or anything in

18 writing about your job performance?

19 A. I received one for the, I believe it was called the

20 intermediate review, which was in, I believe that was June 7th

21 of 1996, that was the intermediate review. And that was

22 Ms. Grant and that was Agatha Stewart. And according to them,

23 I had done everything wrong, everything wrong. I had done

24 nothing right. Nothing. And Brenda Grant's response was, "if

25 you leave now, I'll give you a good reference." And I said

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1 Ms. Grant, "I've beaten multiple sclerosis, you're not going

2 to beat me and I'm not leaving."

3 Q. I'd like to show you what has been previously marked as

4 Plaintiff's Exhibit 26.

5 (Handed to the witness)

6 Q. Can you identify this exhibit?

7 A. Yes, I can.

8 Q. What is it?

9 A. Okay. This is dated July 24, 1996, okay. And this is to

10 a Mary Ann Gantner, deputy district director, and this was

11 from Brenda Grant, acting section chief of Section 245. And

12 basically it says, "through official channels, supervisory

13 clerk Caryl Leventhal was --"

14 THE COURT: Do you object to this document?

15 MR. FISHER: Yes. There's no foundation for it yet.

16 Ms. Leventhal didn't say when she first saw it.

17 THE COURT: Aren't you going to want this document

18 in?

19 MR. FISHER: Yes, your Honor.

20 THE COURT: Exhibit 25 received in evidence.

21 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 26 received in evidence)

22 A. This says "through official channels." Now, I was not

23 physically at 26 Federal Plaza when I saw this. My last day

24 that I was physically there was I believe the 7th of June,

25 1996. I saw this afterwards.

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1 THE COURT: Because this is dated July 24, 1996?

2 THE WITNESS: Yes.

3 A. Okay, and basically it gives a listing. It says, "after

4 eight months on the job, supervisory applications clerk

5 Leventhal is unable to perform basic office functions." And

6 it goes into a variety of things. One thing that really

7 strikes me, which I found absolutely ludicrous, "apparent

8 problems remembering her office address and telephone number."

9 Now, my reaction --

10 THE COURT: That's one of the bullet points in the

11 letter that says these are of examples of ineffectiveness and

12 one of them says "apparent problems remembering her office

13 address and telephone number."

14 A. What struck me when I read that was, if I couldn't

15 remember my office address, how did I get to work. If I

16 couldn't remember my telephone number, how was I able to call

17 to say I wouldn't be there.

18 One thing that also strikes me is, okay, "inability

19 to prepare a simple leave schedule." This is what we had

20 discussed before. "Reassigning work that had already been

21 completed." The work had not been completed, it had not been

22 completed accurately. It wasn't done. That's why I was

23 sending work back, so the clerical people would do it, would

24 finish it, and do it accurately.

25 Q. Was this memo given to you?

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1 A. No, it was not. No, it was not. And not to interrupt,

2 but if I may also say, basically it's talking about 264 AWOL

3 hours from June 10, 1996 to date. Now, I was not -- after

4 June 7, 1996, I was not physically there because I had had, I

5 was very sick from my multiple sclerosis. It's what in

6 medical terms is called an exacerbation. I was very, very

7 sick.

8 MR. FISHER: Objection, move to strike.

9 THE COURT: Sustained. The answer is stricken. You

10 can explain how you felt compared to how you felt a week

11 earlier, a month earlier, but no medical terms will be

12 permitted because you're not a doctor. Go ahead.

13 A. Sorry. Okay. I was so sick from my condition that when I

14 tried to go to work, and that was June 10, 1996, I was unable

15 to dress myself. I wasn't able to even make a phone call. I

16 was unable to think clearly.

17 THE COURT: And that hadn't been true in May, for

18 example, or April?

19 THE WITNESS: No. I could feel that my multiple

20 sclerosis was getting worse because of the heavy lifting. You

21 know, the constant, constant, you know, you're doing this, the

22 constant stress, the unnecessary stress. Not typical regular

23 stress that any job has, that I had always dealt with, but

24 this constant lifting, and the constant being used as a

25 donkey, as a warehouse man, that was not even in my job

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1 description, you know. And that was really beginning to take

2 it's toll.

3 THE COURT: So by June you weren't feeling well.

4 THE WITNESS: I was feeling very bad, very bad.

5 Horrible, really horrible.

6 MS. AYERS: I would like to move this into evidence

7 as Plaintiff's Exhibit 26.

8 THE COURT: 26 was received.

9 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I would like to display --

10 MR. FISHER: I'd just like an opportunity to look at

11 this.

12 THE COURT: Sure. Please show it to Mr. Fisher

13 first.

14 (Handed to counsel)

15 MR. FISHER: Your Honor, there are all sorts of

16 annotations that are not on the original exhibit.

17 THE COURT: I can't allow it then.

18 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, the annotations were what

19 Ms. Leventhal testified to.

20 THE COURT: I know, but that's not part of this

21 document. If you want to photocopy the document and hand a

22 copy to every juror, you can do that. You'll pass it out

23 tomorrow morning.

24 MR. BRESSLER: Okay.

25 THE COURT: You may continue, Ms. Ayers.

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1 MS. AYERS: Thank you.

2 Q. Did you write a rebuttal letter to Brenda Grant's review

3 dated 5/24/96?

4 A. Yes, I did. 5/24/96, yes.

5 Q. Yes. I'd like to show what's been previously marked as

6 Plaintiff's Exhibit 19 for identification.

7 A. Excuse me, I'm just trying to get the date there. I'm a

8 little, because of my multiple sclerosis, it's difficult for

9 me so I'm trying to get the date straight.

10 Q. You can look at this and see if --

11 (Handed to the witness)

12 A. Okay. Oh, I see.

13 MR. FISHER: Iron, I object to Plaintiff's Exhibit 19

14 on hearsay grounds.

15 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, it's a business record.

16 It was submitted to Ms. Brenda Grant. It's not offered for

17 the truth in it, it's offered as what was going on at the

18 time.

19 THE COURT: That's the same thing. It's not a

20 business record and it is offered for the truth so it's

21 hearsay and can't be permitted. Now, I would allow yes or no

22 certainly to the fact that she wrote a rebuttal to Ms. Grant

23 of Ms. Grant's earlier evaluation of her work. Is that

24 accurate?

25 THE WITNESS: Yes.

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1 THE COURT: What evaluation were you responding to,

2 the one dated May 24th?

3 THE WITNESS: The date that I have here is June 10,

4 1996.

5 THE COURT: It replied to her review dated May 24th?

6 THE WITNESS: I don't see that in front of me, unless

7 I'm missing something here.

8 THE COURT: You see in the upper left-hand corner it

9 says "progress review record, Caryl Leventhal, dated May 24,

10 199 and presented to Caryl Leventhal June 7th."

11 THE WITNESS: Right.

12 THE COURT: So she gave that review to you on June

13 7th, is that right?

14 THE WITNESS: Yes.

15 THE COURT: And then you wrote out a response on or

16 about June 10th?

17 THE WITNESS: Yes. I was very sick at that time.

18 THE COURT: But you wrote out a response?

19 THE WITNESS: I did not write it. My husband wrote

20 it for me.

21 THE COURT: Okay.

22 THE WITNESS: Because I was so sick I was unable to

23 even dress myself to go to work.

24 THE COURT: But your husband, after talking with you,

25 wrote out a response.

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1 THE WITNESS: Yes, he did.

2 THE COURT: And it was mailed to Ms. Grant, do you

3 know?

4 THE WITNESS: Yes, it ways.

5 THE COURT: All right.

6 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, what was your physical condition at that

7 time?

8 MR. FISHER: Objection. Asked and answered.

9 THE COURT: Yes. That's right, it was asked and

10 answered and she said essentially terrible, right?

11 THE WITNESS: Yes, it was terrible. It was terrible.

12 Q. What were the circumstances that led up to your sickness?

13 MR. FISHER: Objection, asked and answered.

14 THE COURT: It's worse than that. I don't understand

15 that question. She'd been ill for many years. You mean why

16 did she feel particularly ill in June, is that what you're

17 asking?

18 MS. AYERS: Yes.

19 THE COURT: I think she answered that. The lifting

20 had been stressful, the stress on the job she believed had

21 caused additional symptoms and she explained that.

22 Q. Were you able to go to work?

23 A. No, I was not.

24 Q. Did you call in sick?

25 A. Yes, I did.

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1 Q. Do you remember what day?

2 A. Okay, in my situation with multiple sclerosis, when it's

3 really, really bad as it was at that time, it's very difficult

4 for me to differentiate between days because everything was

5 like, it was like being in a grey fog. It was like a fog that

6 took over my mind that I wasn't able to actually -- I felt

7 that I was just, you know, pulling away from, you know,

8 reality. And I tried to get dressed to go to work. I tried

9 to make a call. I believe the person, the first person I

10 spoke with that Monday morning which was June 10th was, okay,

11 she was working as my mentor. That was at 6:30 in the

12 morning, I called her and I told her --

13 Q. You called who?

14 A. I believe her name was, I'm sorry, Kathy Praither. I

15 explained the situation. And she said call back and speak

16 with, I believe it was Ms. Grant. I later called and spoke

17 with Ms. Grant and again, Ms. Grant was not, she was not

18 sympathetic. She said, "you have to come in." I said,

19 "Ms. Grant, I can't. I'm very sick. I can't even get

20 dressed. I can't come in." She says, "I'm going to mark you

21 AWOL."

22 Q. How were you feeling the next day?

23 A. I felt horrible. I felt much worse. I felt worse.

24 Q. Did you call in?

25 A. I called the next day. I believe that day I spoke with, I

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1 think that day I called, well, I know I called, I think that

2 day I spoke with Agatha Stewart. And Agatha Stewart said,

3 "you're a liar, you're a liar. I'm going to mark you AWOL."

4 I said Agatha, "I don't feel well." It was beyond I don't

5 feel well. I said, "I can't, I can't make it in. I'm getting

6 sicker and sicker and sicker. I feel worse and worse and

7 worse." And she says "you're a liar." And she slammed the

8 phone in my ear.

9 I think also that day, it was a situation where my

10 husband, Michael Leventhal, had spoken with Agatha Stewart.

11 And again, I'm sorry, all of this is so difficult, I'm trying

12 to differentiate the particular days. I mean, it was very,

13 very difficult. It was like being in a fog.

14 Q. Did you see any doctors?

15 A. The next day on Wednesday I had called in -- well, yes,

16 the next day on Wednesday I saw my doctor, a Dr. Kam C. Poon

17 in the afternoon.

18 Q. And what symptoms were you experiencing that you went to

19 Dr. Poon?

20 A. I was very, very -- I mean I was just going downhill very

21 rapidly. And again, I was having problems dressing myself, I

22 was having problems walking around, I was very unsteady, you

23 know. I wasn't able to, as I said before, even dress myself.

24 And my husband and I went to Dr. Kam C. Poon and he

25 had been my doctor for several years and he said, "well,

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1 you're having an exacerbation of multiple sclerosis," and he

2 said, "you're very agitated, you know" -- I'm sorry.

3 THE COURT: I don't think --

4 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry, I used the word again, I

5 apologize.

6 THE COURT: And what the doctor said to you is not

7 admissible. The jury will please disregard that. That

8 witness is not here, he has not testified, nor can he be

9 cross-examined, so please strike that from your mind.

Note: Well, maybe in our system of justice, juries are considered too stupid to see a note written in plain English by a family physician, but thanks to the internet, it is available for the world to see with a simple click on this hyperlink.

10 Q. Did you get a note from Dr. Poon?

11 A. Yes, I did. I got a note from Dr. Poon for me to send to

12 my supervisors.

13 Q. Did you provide any medical information?

14 A. I also --

15 THE COURT: To whom?

16 Q. To INS.

17 THE COURT: To INS. Did she submit medical records

18 to INS?

19 MS. AYERS: Yes.

20 THE COURT: All right.

21 A. Yes, I sent copies of this note and I had also gone for a

22 MRI, okay, magnetic resonance imaging, to track my illness,

23 okay. And I had submitted that as well.

24 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I'd like to enter into

25 evidence --

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1 Q. I'm sorry, I'd like to show you what has previously been

2 marked as Plaintiff's Exhibit 28?

3 THE COURT: Are you objecting to this?

4 MR. FISHER: Yes, hearsay.

5 THE COURT: Objection sustained.

6 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, it's not offered for the

7 truth of what's in it.

8 THE COURT: Of course it is.

9 MR. BRESSLER: It's offered that she actually

10 submitted a doctor's note to INS.

11 THE COURT: And that's in evidence. It's in evidence

12 that she submitted a doctor's note to INS.

13 MR. BRESSLER: Okay.

14 THE COURT: All right.

15 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, did you receive anything in the mail

16 thereafter from INS?

17 A. At what time, what time period?

18 Q. When you were out.

19 A. Every two weeks I would -- well, a pay stub that basically

20 would give a breakdown of amount of time taken, you know, on

21 leave. Also basically it was just again, to put it simply, a

22 pay stub. And every pay stub every two weeks, it would say

23 AWOL, that I was AWOL. Even though I had called in, even

24 though I had provided medical documentation to INS, I was

25 being marked AWOL. I found that horribly upsetting and I felt

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1 much sicker after that seeing that every two weeks.

2 Q. Did you receive anything from INS in August?

3 A. Yes, I did.

4 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I'd like to mark --

5 Q. I'd like to show you what's been marked as Plaintiff's

6 Exhibit 27.

7 THE COURT: Is there any objection to this?

8 MR. FISHER: No objection.

9 THE COURT: Go ahead.

10 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, can you identify that?

11 (Handed to the witness)

12 A. Yes, I can.

13 Q. Can you tell me what it is?

14 A. This is my termination letter from the district director,

15 Edward McElroy, saying that I was terminated, that I had been

16 fired. And it says that I showed poor dedication to my

17 position.

18 Q. How did you receive it?

19 A. I received it through the mail.

20 Q. Was it addressed to you?

21 A. Yes, it was.

22 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I ask that this letter be

23 introduced into evidence as Plaintiff's Exhibit 27.

24 THE COURT: There being no objection, Exhibit 27 is

25 received.

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1 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 27 received in evidence)

2 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I also --

3 THE COURT: Just show it to your adversary first,

4 please.

5 MR. FISHER: There is the same problem with this

6 enlargement.

7 THE COURT: Then I can't allow it.

8 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, after you received the termination letter,

9 did you file a complaint?

10 A. I was so devastated, I was so sick at that time, the only

11 way I could file a complaint was through, with the assistant

12 of my husband, okay. And a complaint was filed with the

13 assistance of my husband.

14 Q. Do you remember if anything happened after you filed the

15 complaint?

16 A. Well, again, I was very sick and it was very difficult to

17 remember specific instances. But I do remember, I believe it

18 was in early September of 1996, my husband had spoken with an

19 Elizabeth Christie in the INS office in Vermont.

20 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance. This is beyond

21 the scope of her employment.

22 THE COURT: But it may have to do with the issue of

23 when the husband acted on her own behalf filing the complaint

24 that we talked about last week. I assume that's what this is

25 leading up to, is that right, Ms. Ayers?

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1 MS. AYERS: And other information, your Honor.

2 THE COURT: I don't know about other information. If

3 it was narrowly related to that issue, I might be able to take

4 it but I don't know what "other issues" means.

5 MR. BRESSLER: We could discuss it.

6 THE COURT: What are you showing the witness?

7 MS. AYERS: I'm not showing her anything.

8 THE COURT: What was your last question again? It's

9 about time for our afternoon recess. Usually I have the

10 morning recess at 11:30 to 11:40 and the afternoon recess from

11 3:30 to 3:40 so we'll have what remains of the afternoon

12 recess which is about 8 minutes and we'll reconvene at about

13 20 to 4. Just let us know when you're all back together by

14 turning on that light as my clerk explained. Thank you.

15 (Jury not present)

16 THE COURT: Ms. Ayers, tell me what you were about to

17 do.

18 MS. AYERS: This is in regard to the phone calls,

19 getting into what happened after.

20 THE COURT: Where are you starting?

21 MS. AYERS: I asked her what happened after she filed

22 the complaint.

23 THE COURT: Right.

24 MS. AYERS: And that's all I got up to and she was

25 answering --

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1 THE COURT: Just what happened after she filed the

2 complaint?

3 MS. AYERS: If anything happened.

4 MR. BRESSLER: She was not leading the witness, but

5 she wants to get across -- you know.

6 THE COURT: I thought I heard a name.

7 MR. FISHER: There was a question about conversations

8 with a Ms. Christie.

9 THE COURT: That's what I thought I heard. Who is

10 that? Virginia Christie?

11 MR. FISHER: In response to Ms. Ayers' question,

12 Mrs. Leventhal began to testify about something that happened

13 during the course of the administrative process and that's

14 exactly what we had discussed before trial.

15 THE COURT: But she could testify to events in the

16 administrative process. Then she could relate the hangup call

17 problems to events.

18 MR. FISHER: My understanding is that in order to

19 accomplish this and to link the telephone calls to the events,

20 Mrs. Leventhal would only have to testify as to the dates of

21 the relevant events and then they could argue the inference

22 and not get into the substance of the administrative policy.

23 THE COURT: Not the substance but what was happening

24 in the process. Somebody was going to give a date when it was

25 going to be questioned or there was going to be a hearing.

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1 Didn't we hear this name?

2 MS. AYERS: I didn't say it.

3 MR. BRESSLER: That name was brought up by plaintiff

4 in describing what happened and who she spoke to.

5 THE COURT: Who is that person?

6 THE WITNESS: Elizabeth Christie, she was in INS in

7 Vermont, and basically she was the first person I believe my

8 husband spoke with about my complaint during the

9 administrative process. I was not able to speak with her

10 because I was so sick.

11 THE COURT: I understand. When was that, September?

12 THE WITNESS: I believe it was early September of

13 1996.

14 THE COURT: I will let her say that much. It was

15 September, to her understanding, her husband spoke to an INS

16 person in Vermont and not what was said.

17 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, we take exception to the

18 exclusion of displaying these exhibits because it's -- to me

19 it's the equivalent of when you have a car accident, you blow

20 up what you see.

21 THE COURT: You could be right, if you had said it

22 right. You can blow up the exhibits and put it on a chart,

23 but when you add things to the exhibit, it's no longer the

24 exhibit.

25 MR. BRESSLER: It's just basically a summary --

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1 THE COURT: I'm sorry, that's not the exhibit. If

2 you want to show them the letter, show them the letter. If

3 you want to show it blown up, do that. Otherwise make

4 photocopies and give it to the jury tomorrow morning. It has

5 to be the exact document. You can't write on and add things

6 that aren't on the document.

7 MR. BRESSLER: Fine.

8 THE COURT: All right. Now there's four minutes left

9 to the recess.

10 (Recess)

11 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, the next exhibit that the

12 witness will testify to, we produced blowups and there's not

13 much -- I can show it to --

14 THE COURT: If there's even one mark.

15 MR. BRESSLER: It's just circling of something.

16 THE COURT: Can't do it. That's not the document.

17 MR. BRESSLER: Well, if we can lay the foundation for

18 putting it and then she could display it. I mean if she calls

19 attention to a particular thing, highlighted it --

20 THE COURT: She could have gotten off the stand and

21 put a circle on, that's true.

22 MR. BRESSLER: Okay, but I guess you'd --

23 THE COURT: That's okay. You'd probably be able to

24 work with that.

25 (Jury present)

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1 THE COURT: All right. Ms. Ayers.

2 Q. Ms. Leventhal, you previously testified that Ms. Meissner

3 visited INS. Was there ever a discussion in Section 245 about

4 the visit of Ms. Meissner?

5 A. Yes, there was.

6 MR. FISHER: Objection, relevance.

7 THE COURT: I'll allow yes. What's the next

8 question?

9 Q. What did the discussion consist of?

10 THE COURT: I'm not going to allow that.

11 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, this goes to --

12 THE COURT: Then don't ask what's the discussion if

13 you want to say what a particular person had in mind. Are you

14 offering a statement of Ms. Grant?

15 MS. AYERS: Yes.

16 THE COURT: So ask did she participate in the

17 discussion, what did she say, then it might be valid.

18 Q. Did Ms. Grant participate in that discussion?

19 A. Yes.

20 Q. What did she say?

21 A. Ms. Grant was having a discussion with Gwen MacPherson

22 about Doris Meissner's visit. And the discussion was

23 basically, Doris MacPherson would ask, "do you think she's a

24 Jew?" And then Brenda Grant would say, "she's not a Jew."

25 And then Doris MacPherson would say, "I think she's a Jew."

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1 Never is she Jewish. Just, "is she a Jew," "I don't think

2 she's a Jew," like an accusation, a bad thing.

3 This is what I overheard. And this is at the time

4 that Doris Meissner had made her visit to INS at 26 Federal

5 Plaza and that was in the spring of 1996. But it gave me a

6 chill, it really gave -- I must tell you, I'm sorry, it gave

7 me a cold chill. There was like a plague approaching. I

8 found it very upsetting.

9 Q. Does anything stick out in your mind about the

10 administrative process?

11 A. What sticks out in my mind is the fact that even though --

12 well, in the admin process or leading up to the admin process?

13 I don't quite understand.

14 Q. Leading up to the administrative process and then we'll

15 get into --

16 A. Okay. What struck me is I would constantly tell Brenda

17 Grant and Agatha Stewart that I wasn't able to do the lifting

18 and climbing to retrieving files because I have multiple

19 sclerosis. I was telling them this over and over and over

20 again. A person with multiple sclerosis should not do heavy

21 labor. I'm not suicidal. And I would constantly tell

22 Ms. Grant and Agatha Stewart, "I can't do climbing, I can't

23 retrieve files from a seven foot shelving. I need help."

24 I would ask my clerical staff, "please help me with

25 this, I need help, I can't do this alone." I would constantly

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1 tell them, "I need assistance." I told my lead clerk, Delores

2 Filbert, I said, "I have multiple sclerosis, I need help with

3 this. I can't do this alone. I can't do the lifting, I can't

4 do the climbing. You're my lead clerk. Please help me with

5 this."

6 And she would just laugh and do nothing. Or she

7 would run into Ms. Grant, you know, into her office and

8 Ms. Grant would come running out and she would yell at me. I

9 said, "Ms. Grant, I can't do this, I have multiple sclerosis,

10 you know this, I told you this when I first arrived here.

11 Again, I'm not a warehouse man, I need help," and she would

12 not provide me with help, nor would my clerks.

13 Q. During the administrative process, does anything stick out

14 in your mind?

15 A. Basically it was a situation where I felt that as the

16 process went on, and this was a long period of time, this was,

17 I believe, from September of 1996 into, it was a three-year

18 process, and it was basically a situation where certain bases,

19 such as the three bases of my case are race, religion and

20 physical. In the admin process they originally would not

21 accept --

22 MR. FISHER: Sustained.

23 THE COURT: Ms. Ayers, you're aware of my ruling.

24 We're not going into the substance of the administrative

25 process.

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1 Q. After you filed the complaint, did anything happen after

2 you filed the complaint?

3 A. Yes, yes, they would not accept religion and then they

4 would not accept race.

5 MR. FISHER: Objection.

6 THE COURT: That's still the substance. I thought

7 you wanted to bring out the timing.

8 MR. BRESSLER: Your Honor, may I?

9 THE COURT: May you what, ask a question?

10 MR. BRESSLER: Yes.

11 THE COURT: One counsel examining is better than two.

12 MR. BRESSLER: Sure.

13 (Counsel confer)

14 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, did you receive any phone calls during

15 this process, administrative process?

16 A. Yes. I received a number of crank phone calls. I

17 received one horrifying crank call --

18 MR. FISHER: Objection.

19 THE COURT: I'll allow that. Go ahead.

20 A. Yes.

21 THE COURT: Besides that call.

22 THE WITNESS: I received a death threat.

23 THE COURT: Besides that call, what other calls did

24 you receive?

25 THE WITNESS: Many calls were, a person would call,

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1 there would be like guttural noise, and they would hang up.

2 THE COURT: Do you know who made the calls?

3 THE WITNESS: I don't know. But it always happened

4 at the time when something was going on in the administrative

5 process. Like in the fall of 1997, when I was trying to

6 meet -- Peter Schilling, he was the contract reviewer, and

7 basically I had to go to 26 Federal Plaza and during that

8 time, I was receiving a lot of crank calls.

9 THE COURT: You say crank, was there any content or

10 hangups.

11 THE WITNESS: Some were hangups and some were

12 guttural noise.

13 THE COURT: Nobody's voice that you recognized.

14 THE WITNESS: Not that I recognized. But the thing

15 that struck me, these things would happen always when

16 something was going on in the administrative process. I have

17 an unlisted phone number and nobody has my number except for a

18 few relatives and INS.

19 THE COURT: What was the most crank calls or hangups

20 that you ever had in one day or one weekend?

21 THE WITNESS: Okay. I remember they were happening,

22 not that long ago, basically -- okay, I'm having problems as

23 far as getting this in sequence. I think my husband Michael

24 could be -- I'm not trying to push it off on him but he can

25 really answer this question better than I can, you know,

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1 because as much as I want to go through with this, this is

2 difficult and I will go through with it, but I want to give

3 you a more accurate question.

4 THE COURT: You can't answer my question.

5 THE WITNESS: I can answer, I'm sorry, I did

6 receive -- it was last week.

7 THE COURT: Last week?

8 THE WITNESS: No. With Brenda Grant, when she was

9 deposed, okay, on the day that she was deposed, I received 17

10 calls. The day behalf she was deposed and the day after she

11 was deposed, I received 17 calls.

Note: This should read the day "before" she was deposed, not the day "behalf."

12 THE COURT: Hangup calls?

13 THE WITNESS: Hangup calls and some were also

14 guttural noises.

15 THE COURT: How long ago was that, approximately?

16 THE WITNESS: Okay. That was basically when

17 depositions were being taken.

18 THE COURT: Which is approximately when?

19 THE WITNESS: I would say that was the spring.

20 THE COURT: This spring?

21 THE WITNESS: This spring, 2000.

22 THE COURT: I just want to explain to the jury that

23 the word deposition means a statement under oath which is

24 permitted as part of the pretrial process. Each side is

25 allowed to take the statement of each other's witnesses under

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1 oath. So she's saying these calls occurred at or about the

2 time that Ms. Grant's statement was being taken under oath by

3 her attorney which would have been this spring.

4 Q. Did you continue to get phone calls after the

5 administrative process?

6 A. Well, as I stated before, the most phone calls that I

7 would receive -- I would periodically receive, you know, these

8 phone calls, but they were, the greatest number was when

9 Brenda Grant would be deposed, when something was happening in

10 the admin process, and then when we got into the judicial

11 process, basically leading up to trial, that's when these

12 calls really started, really started up again in the number

13 and severity.

14 Q. How did these calls make you feel?

15 A. They made me feel that I was being targeted, that I was

16 being basically targeted for, can I use the word,

17 extermination. That basically they thought -- maybe that's

18 the wrong word. Basically there was a vendetta against me,

19 you know.

20 Q. Do you know what INS's policy is regarding absences or

21 AWOL?

22 A. Well, basically from what I understand, as far as an

23 absence, if you're going to be absent, you call your first

24 line supervisor and explain your absence. I was going to say,

25 you said also AWOL?

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1 Q. Yes.

2 A. That's absent without official leave. And that's

3 basically if you have not called in, you know, and given the

4 proper notice or if it's a situation where basically you don't

5 have any leave left.

6 Now, I had leave left, okay. I have 264 AWOLs. I

7 had leave left. I also had annual leave which is vacation and

8 I had sick leave and none of that was ever taken, you know,

9 used by INS. I was simply marked AWOL.

10 I had called, I had told them that I was not able to

11 come in because I was very sick, because my multiple sclerosis

12 was acting up. And this was a major problem.

13 MR. FISHER: Objection, move to strike the

14 nonresponsive portion of the answer.

15 THE COURT: I'm not sure which portion unless you are

16 willing to repeat it. Otherwise it will just stand.

17 Q. Is there a system to get sick leave?

18 A. Well, basically from what I understand -- please

19 understand, this has been four, it's been awhile and I'm not

20 the person that I once was before all this happened.

21 Basically, to get sick leave, what you have to do is you have

22 to call your first line supervisor. You have to have an

23 amount of leave left, you know, in your, in your file or bank

24 or whatever you want to call it to be able to take leave. I

25 did have the leave available. I was never granted that leave.

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1 Instead, I was marked AWOL.

2 Q. Does an employee get a record of their allowable absences?

3 A. Yes.

4 Q. How can you know what your absences are?

5 A. Every two weeks you receive your pay stub and that

6 indicates what your salary is, what your pay is. It also

7 indicates your annual leave as well as your sick leave. And

8 every week when I would receive that, it would just say AWOL.

9 Q. Did you get a record of your absences?

10 A. Yes, I did.

11 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I'd like to show what's been

12 previously marked as Plaintiff's Exhibit 24.

13 THE COURT: Any objection to this?

14 MR. FISHER: No objection, your Honor.

15 THE COURT: All right.

16 (Handed to the witness)

17 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, can you identify this document?

18 A. Yes, I can.

19 Q. Can you tell me what it is?

20 A. This shows how much sick leave and annual leave I have.

21 And also it shows the number of hours of AWOL for that pay

22 period. And no sick leave or AWOL -- I'm sorry, no sick leave

23 or annual leave was used, even though I had told them why I

24 was absent, even though they knew I have multiple sclerosis,

25 even though they knew from the very beginning and I reminded

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1 Ms. Grant continuously that I have multiple sclerosis and that

2 it was difficult to do the heavy lifting, the climbing, the

3 shelves, you know, the strenuous physical activity that I was

4 asked to do even though it wasn't in my job description.

5 Q. Do these records refer to your employment from June

6 through August of 1996?

7 A. Yes, it does.

8 Q. Is this an accurate record of your hours?

9 A. Again, it shows -- when you say accurate, you mean the

10 amount of balance that I had, such as annual leave and sick

11 leave?

12 Q. Correct.

13 A. I would say yes.

14 MS. AYERS: Your Honor, I ask that these attendance

15 sheets be admitted into evidence as Plaintiff's Exhibit 24.

16 THE COURT: There being no objection, 24 is received.

17 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 24 received in evidence)

18 MS. AYERS: And I also have --

19 THE COURT: Show it to your adversary first. If it's

20 just a circle or a mark that can be explained to the jury as

21 opposed to words that are out.

22 MR. FISHER: There are words out.

23 MR. BRESSLER: The words just reconfirm exactly --

24 THE COURT: I can't allow that. I explained it.

25 Highlighting, circling, underlining maybe I could have done

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1 because the witness could always do that but I can't have

2 words added to a document. But you can come in with seven

3 copies of the exhibit tomorrow and the jury can have them, the

4 ones that are received in evidence.

5 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, did this follow policy to your knowledge?

6 A. Now, when you say follows policy, I don't quite understand

7 the question.

8 Q. That absences and tardinesses weren't removed from your

9 records?

10 A. What --

11 MR. FISHER: Objection, leading.

12 THE COURT: I'll allow that. She was summarizing

13 policy that I think you might have testified to anyway. Did

14 this conform to the policy you described?

15 THE WITNESS: I didn't think so. I was getting all

16 these AWOLs even though they knew I had multiple sclerosis and

17 they knew why I wasn't there and no annual leave or sick leave

18 was ever applied to my absences. I was very, very, you know,

19 upset. Beyond upset. I was devastated, devastated to see

20 this.

21 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, did you seek psychological counseling?

22 A. Yes, I did.

23 Q. Who did you see?

24 A. I saw a Dr. Betsy Bittlingmaier.

25 Q. When did you go to see her?

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1 A. I saw her the spring of 1999.

2 Q. Mrs. Leventhal, do you believe that you were discriminated

3 against?

4 A. Yes, I do.

5 Q. Why do you believe you were discriminated against?

6 A. I believe I was discriminated against on the basis of my

7 religion, Judaism, physical, multiple sclerosis, and also my

8 race, which is Caucasian.

9 Q. What is your life like now?

10 A. My life, needless to say, is not the way it once was.

11 Basically, it consists of my walking my dog around the block,

12 sitting and staring at the television. My concentration, you

13 know, is not the way it was. I am unable to go -- I am unable

14 to travel alone. I only travel with my husband. And I truly

15 feel that until I was at INS, my multiple sclerosis was under

16 control. But after the brutalization that I received from the

17 people, okay, my supervisors at INS, even though they knew

18 that heavy lifting, okay, would exacerbate --

19 THE COURT: Objection sustained as to what they knew.

20 Q. Ms. Leventhal, do you experience any physical conditions

21 now? What kind of symptoms do you have?

22 A. Yes, yes. I have constant headaches, horrible, horrible

23 headaches. I have constant aches in my arms and legs, which

24 I've had since I was at INS. Only started when I was at INS

25 because I was forced to do heavy lifting and also climbing to

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1 retrieve files.

2 Q. Do you suffer mentally now?

3 A. I have horrible nightmares, horrible nightmares, and that

4 is why I originally -- one reason, I should say, why I started

5 to see Dr. Betsy Bittlingmaier. Horrible nightmares. I feel

6 that it's a situation where I've been targeted. I feel like

7 I'm on death row, waiting to be executed. I feel that my life

8 has changed for the worse.

9 Q. Did you ever tell Ms. Brenda Grant that you had MS,

10 multiple sclerosis?

11 A. Yes, yes I did.

12 Q. When?

13 A. I first told her in I believe it was early November of

14 1995. And I told her several times after, several times a

15 week. I would say, "I have multiple sclerosis. I can't do

16 climbing to retrieve files. I can't do lifting. I can't work

17 as a warehouse man. I need accommodations, I need

18 accommodations as far as carts for the files to be able to

19 distribute the work to my staff."

20 I was very open about having multiple sclerosis. I

21 told Ms. Grant, I told Agatha Stewart. And basically Agatha

22 Stewart's response was, "well, as far as the lifting and the

23 climbing, we all have to do this. You have to do this." And

24 Brenda Grant's response was to laugh at me. Just to laugh and

25 say, "you just have to do this yourself," you know.

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1 Q. Did you ever tell the United States government that you --

2 before you went to INS, that you had MS?

3 A. I had told -- I believe in the fall of 1995, I had sent

4 the OPM, Office of Personnel Management, in Washington, D.C.,

5 a Mr. Leonard Klein, who I believe is second n