Two former nannies of a Wall Street millionaire have filed a racial discrimination complaint against him and his girlfriend after calling them ‘dirty Jamaicans’.
Cislyn Wright and Cordia Foster were live-in nannies for Ogden Phipps II co-founder Ian K. Snow and his girlfriend, Elyse Dula, in Manhattan. Foster started working for the couple in 2017 and Wright started in 2018. The women lived with Snow, Dula and four children in their rental home in the Hamptons as well as the couple’s New York mansion that was once owned by Rupert Murdoch.
The women said they were stereotyped by the couple from the start of their employment and were referred to as “dirty Jamaicans” and “black bitches”.
The first incident happened in January 2020 after the family kitten came out, prompting Dula to say“Those black b—s!”
The lawsuit also claimed that in May 2020, Dula said, “I’m happy to get these filthy Jamaicans out of my house” as the servants’ quarters neared completion. Foster and Wright also claimed they were charged with theft and trespassing after they were fired in August 2020.
The lawsuit alleges that the women were released for several reasons, including using their mobile phones, bathing the children in hot water and ignoring the children.
The two nannies have also been accused of being “hostile” to Dula and threatening to perform “black magic” on the couple. The women also said the couple’s personal assistant, Tamela Walsh, told them, “Elyse hates you Jamaicans.”
The lawsuit also claims the couple tried to convince the nannies to quit their jobs by cutting their wages in half. Documents also said that Snow and Dula blocked the nannies’ ability to see outside by covering the kitchen window of the servants’ quarters.
The women filed a racial discrimination complaint in December 2021 in New York. Court documents showed the former nannies suffered from other identities, such as being ignored while the couple addressed non-black servants in their presence. Nannies were also prohibited from entering the guest quarters of the houses or the pool house.
“Both defendants often pointedly treated the complainants as if they were ‘invisible’ – for example, upon entering a room occupied by Foster or Wright and a non-black servant, the defendants would often greet, smile and talk with the non-black worker. black while acting like Foster or Wright don’t exist.
Court documents also said the two nannies “were fired simultaneously without cause or explanation” by Dula and Snow.
The couple denied being racist and claimed the nannies were fired because they lost faith in women’s ability to look after their children. Court documents also noted the couple’s refusal.
“The plaintiffs’ services were terminated, not because of the color of their skin, nor because of alleged ‘retaliation’, but because they had lost the trust and faith of the defendants, a necessary and non-negotiable element of the defendants’ willingness to allow anyone, of any color or racial composition, to care for their young children.
The couple also said the nannies were fired for installing a surveillance device in one of the children’s rooms and disciplining the children by placing them in windowless rooms. The women claimed they were following Dula’s instructions. The couple were also upset that the women gave one of the children a scary Joker mask from the movie “Batman.”
The couple’s lawyer Gerard Riso said The New York Post that the couple planned to fight the lawsuit. “The defendants deny all allegations and we will fight this vigorously.”