A middle-aged Queens woman was hired at a Forest Hills restaurant, then promptly fired before taking her first drink order — when the owner told her she “couldn’t handle” the rowdy night crowds because of her age and gender, new court papers allege.
Out-of-work events planner Mara Risa Newman, 51, was desperate for a job when she applied to work as a server at Dylan’s Forest Hills on July 2, according to her Queens Supreme Court lawsuit from Tuesday.
The owner, Brian Urbina, hired her on the spot and scheduled her for training five days later, the court papers say.
When Newman showed up at the scheduled time, “Urbina sat her down and told her she was ‘too old’ for the position, which he had just days ago hired her for, and that the position was ‘beneath her,’” the court documents claim.
What’s more, “Urbina told her that as a woman she would not be able to handle the rowdy men at Dylan’s in the evening,” the suit alleges.
Newman — who says she’s planned events including the Atlantic City Borgata opening and a Maxim Superbowl party — hasn’t had work since the pandemic hit, she told The Post.
“I applied to over 1,000 jobs since March,” Newman said in an interview. “I applied for lot of server positions, a lot of manager positions.”
“I was so shocked that I was speechless, because I’ve never experienced that,” Newman said. “Especially during COVID when nothing’s beneath anyone. Minimum wage is the same for any age.”
“I would have worked 150 times harder than any 20-year-old,” Newman said.
So Newman was delighted when Urbina offered her the job — only to be devastated when he so quickly reneged on the offer, according to Newman and the court papers.
“I’m used to doing whatever it takes to make my clients happy,” she said. “So to be told that you’re too old, that being a woman you wouldn’t be able to handle being a server, is beyond my comprehension.”’
Newman’s lawyer, Matthew Blit of law firm Levine & Blit, slammed the restaurant for having “the audacity to blatantly deny my client work because of her age and gender.
“Now, instead of serving food for Dylan’s, together we will be serving justice at Dylan’s,” he said.
Urbina told The Post that Newman’s allegations are false — including that he said she couldn’t handle the rowdy patrons.
“Nobody gets rowdy. This is Forest Hills, dude. It’s not a rowdy neighborhood,” Urbina said adding that his restaurant doesn’t even have a bar area.
Knowing that Newman was an event planner he asked her to submit a proposal for starting a catering service at the restaurant. Only Newman never followed through, Urbina claimed.
“I think that she’s gone through a hard time,” Urbina said. “She showed up here crying a few times and I felt bad.
“I said, ‘We’re looking to go into catering and you do this thing, maybe you can do this for us.’ It was the biggest mistake I could have done,” Urbina said.
“I have older people working for me. It’s just not an issue,” he said. “My reputation’s impeccable.”
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December 10, 2020 at 05:46AM
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Server told she was 'too old' to 'handle' rowdy crowd at NYC eatery: suit - New York Post
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