Azza Elmostehi’s complaint prompted the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file a civil-rights suit yesterday in Manhattan federal court against her former employer, Poggenpohl U.S. Inc., a kitchen-furniture maker.
Michael Gorelick, a lawyer for Poggenpohl, said the company denies violating equal-opportunity laws, called Elmostehi a “disgruntled former employee, and added that “she was fired because of her performance,” not because of her complaint to management.
Elmostehi’s lawyer, Saul Zabell, said the harasser was fired only after his Farmingdale, L.I., firm notified Poggenpohl last year that Elmostehi planned to sue the company following her own dismissal. Zabell said other co-workers heard the harassment and had complained to management.
A Princeton Junction, N.J., resident, the 40ish Elmostehi is a single mother of three sons and had worked for Poggenpohl’s parent company in Persian Gulf countries and elsewhere for about 17 years. Then about 3½ years ago, she transferred to a $76,000-a-year job as operations manager in the company’s New York showroom.
She told The Post that her co-worker made anti-Arab comments soon after her arrival but that the harassment “really . . . became more and more after” the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.