UWS Building Super Says He Was Fired Refusing To Snoop On Tenants
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Manhattan building superintendent said he was fired for refusing to snoop in tenants' apartments and mailboxes.
As CBS2's Ali Bauman reported, Jorge Perez has been the super at The Ironton, at 510 Amsterdam Ave. near 85th Street, for eight years. He also has been a handyman at Pine Management's 30 Manhattan properties for more than a decade.
But now, Perez is out of a job and could soon be out of a home, and he said it is all because he refused to snoop.
"Going inside tenant apartments; opening medicine cabinets; photographing personal items in the medicine cabinets; any paper a tenant may have laying around, photographing that; dry cleaning in the closet," Perez said.
Perez has filed a lawsuit against Pine Management, and told CBS2's Bauman that when he refused to carry out work orders from management for snoop tests -- with instructions to "pop a breaker in the apartment" – he was fired.
"They would tell the tenants we'ere going to supposedly look for a leak, but there's no leak," he said. "They just want me to get into the apartment to take pictures of, you know, anything I could find on the tenant."
In the lawsuit, Perez claimed he was instructed to gather evidence that could be used to evict tenants. He believes management wanted to check if the name on the mail address matched the name on the rent check.
"Of course it is scary," said a rent-controlled tenant in the building. "Why would they want to do something like that?"
With renovations under way in the building, Perez said he believes management is trying to push out rent-regulated tenants for fair market ones.
Mercedes Lagrule has lived in her apartment for more than 50 years, and it is rent regulated. She said she has been trying to prove her own residency to Pine Management in Housing Court.
Interpreting for Lagrule, Perez said, "They're trying to say she spends more time in Florida than she actually does in this apartment."
Perez's attorney said they have not received a response from the management company. CBS2 tried reaching out to Pine Management many times, but voicemails and emails were unanswered.
When CBS2's Bauman went to the Pine Management office, a man there said, "I'm told we won't comment on pending litigation."
And now that he is no longer the building super, Perez faces an eviction of his own.
Perez's attorney said she also reported the allegations to the New York State Attorney General's Office, in hopes that action will be taken against Perez's former employer.