NEW YORK – The attorney for a former State Attorney General’s employee from Monroe, who filed a discrimination lawsuit last year, is pressing the court to have Letitia James’ office turn over discovery information it has allegedly refused to share.
Attorney Heather Abissi, who represents Efrain Vazquez, filed a motion to compel in state court last week. A motion to compel is a formal request asking a judge to order an opposing party to provide discovery, documents, answers to interrogatories, or witness depositions that it has withheld, ignored, or answered incompletely.
Abissi did not return a phone call seeking comment for this story. However, in court documents, she claimed that the AG’s office had not provided proper interrogatory responses to questions she presented during litigation.
The AG’s office declined to comment on the matter.
In his lawsuit, Vazquez alleges that he was discriminated against by James’ office because of disabilities stemming from cancer he developed after working on September 11 following the terrorist attacks. According to the filing, after Vazquez reported alleged workplace misconduct involving a co-worker and expressed concern about workplace violence, the AG’s Office and several other employees forced him out of his job.
Vazquez is seeking $300,000 in damages, attorney’s fees, and other costs. Named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in state court earlier this month, are the AG’s Office and four employees, as well as possible unnamed defendants.
Vazquez claims in the filing that he experienced discrimination beginning in June 2023 because of medical issues related to cancer and surgery stemming from 9/11-related exposure. Vazquez has a funeral director’s license and worked identifying the remains of victims for days after the attacks. He alleges that exposure to chemicals at Ground Zero caused him to develop cancer.
The lawsuit accuses the AG’s Office of violating the State Human Rights Law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and state whistleblower protections.