| Bronx VA
Hospital Is On Religious Trial Amid
Questions of $400,000 Pay Ceiling
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- ESPN
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 4 – Moshe Wagh sued the
Secretary of Veteran Affairs,
says that at the Bronx V.A.
Hospital he was paid disparate
ages "on account of the fact
that he is an Orthodox
Jew."
On November 2 U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York
Magistrate Judge Robert W.
Lehrburger began a jury trial.
Inner City Press went up to
the 26th floor to cover
it.
Wagh was in
the plexiglass witness box,
explaining on direct
examination what the Sabbath
is, and his two years of
medical school in Mexico, two
in Santo
Domingo.
Judge Lehrburger,
after he let the jurors go,
asked why he had not been told
during summary judgment
briefing of another doctor at
the Bronx VA who is an
Orthodox Jew. Wagh's lawyer
said he dispute that the other
is, in fact, an Orthodox Jew.
The Assistant US
Attorney said if she had been
on the case earlier, she would
have made Judge Lehrburger
aware.
At the end on
November 3, with Doctor
Schwartz leaving the stand,
Judge Lehrburger suggested to
the parties that they avoid
cumulative presentation.
Plaintiff's counsel asked to
end on Friday at 4, for this
client's religious observance.
That's what the case is about.
On November 4
mid-day, Judge Lehrburger
asked the lawyers about the
pay scale. It emerged it
imposes a maximum payout cap
of $400,000 a year. To be less
than the U.S. President? Judge
Lehrburger pointed out that
something can be considered,
as required, but then rejected
in full. Then he called the
lawyers' lunch break.
The case is
Wagh v. Wilkie, 18-cv-7726
(Lehrburger)
***
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