The Daily News is reporting that lawyers for Leigh Castergine were granted permission Friday by Federal Judge William Kuntz to question Mets co-owner Jeff Wilpon for what could be a grueling 14 hours.
Castergine is the former team executive who is suing Jeff Wilpon and Sterling Mets for gender discrimination and maintaining a hostile work environment after she was allegedly fired for having a baby out of wedlock.
The Mets have denied the allegations after being granted a six week extension to prepare their response.
Castergine’s lawyer, Ann Vladeck, also said she may amend the suit to add two more parties, but declined to elaborate according to the report.
November 1
In papers filed with the court on Friday, Jeff Wilpon and Sterling Mets finally responded to the allegations in the discrimination lawsuit brought against them by former senior vice president of marketing and ticket sales Leigh Castergine.
They denied claims that Castergine was fired because she was pregnant and unmarried.
“Wilpon at all times treated Plaintiff fairly and without regard to her gender, marital status, pregnancy or leave. She was not discriminated against in the terms and conditions of her employment. The termination of her employment was based on legitimate business reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with her gender, marital status, pregnancy or leave.”
The response cites a conflict between Castergine and a superior, Lou DePaoli. The conflict, according to the papers, began before there was knowledge of her pregnancy and said she had support from Wilpon.
In Castergine’s court filing, she alleges that the team terminated her because Jeff Wilpon objected to her becoming pregnant out of wedlock.
“He frequently humiliated Castergine in front of others by, among other things, pretending to see if she had an engagement ring on her finger and openly stating in a meeting of the Team’s all-male senior executives that he is ‘morally opposed’ to Castergine ‘having this baby without being married,’” the suit states.
“Wilpon told her that, when she gets a ring, she will make more money and get a bigger bonus,” the suit states.
Wilpon told Castergine that “something had changed” in Castergine after the birth of her child — “with still no ring on her finger,” the suit states. “Wilpon told her that she was no longer as ‘aggressive” as she used to be.”
When the first female senior vice president in the team’s 52-year history complained about Wilpon’s behavior to the team’s human resources department, she was abruptly terminated, according to the suit.
“In particular, the Team’s front office has failed to field a winning team in six years, including 2014, and has made a series of public relations blunders that too frequently led to the franchise being ridiculed in the sports pages,” the suit states.
“The team’s ownership and front office have only made things worse,” the suit states, noting that the Mets alienated their fan base by denying obvious financial difficulties while failing to sign big-name stars.
“Some fans had become so disenchanted that they pledged not to attend any games until there was a change in ownership,” the suit states. “Others compared Castergine’s job to selling ‘deck chairs on the Titanic’ or ‘tickets to a funeral.’”
As both sides are scheduled to meet on November 7th, this was widely expected. I’m actually shocked that there wasn’t a more substantial denial.
Castergine cited several instances and meetings where many others were present. It will be interesting to see what they have to say once they are called for affidavits and testimony.
