A nanny is suing a Manhattan couple for discrimination after she was accidentally sent a racist text by the mother on her first day, before being fired immediately afterwards.
Mum of two Lynsey Plasco-Flaxman allegedly sent the erroneous text message on nanny Giselle Maurice’s first day back in 2016, after meeting her for the first time.
The text, reading ‘NOOOOOOOOOOO ANOTHER BLACK PERSON’ was reportedly sent to the nanny’s phone instead of the intended recipient, Lynsey’s financier husband Joel Plasco.
And to make matters worse, the text was said to be sent not once but twice to Maurice, the second time an attempt by Plasco-Flaxman to re-send it to her husband.
After this mishap, Plasco-Flaxman immediately fired the experienced nanny, claiming she felt too ‘uncomfortable’ to continue her employment.
As any experienced professional would do, Maurice did not simply take this on the chin and accept it.
Instead, according to the New York Post, Maurice, 44, attempted to settle the dispute through mediation. And when that didn’t work out, she began the suit to sue the couple for discrimination.
She said:
[I want] to show them, look, you don’t do stuff like that. I know it’s discrimination
According to the nanny, Plasco-Flaxman told her the reason of her text message was their previous nanny was African-American and had done a bad job. She also allegedly said she was expecting a Filipino.
But the couple, who moved to New York from North London, have defended their actions saying they had no choice but to fire the nanny.
Joel Plasco, co-chairman of the Dalmore Group investment bank, told the New York Post:
[My wife] had sent her something that she didn’t mean to say. She’s not a racist. We’re not racist people.
He went on to say:
But would you put your children in the hands of someone you’ve been rude to, even if it was by mistake? Your newborn baby? Come on.
Maurice insisted that she would have remained strictly professional, saying she would not have treated the baby any differently because of the text.
She said:
This is my reputation. Why would I do something to a baby?
I was willing to work with her and prove her wrong, but it was her conscience, and she couldn’t work with me anymore.
PexelsMaurice is also seeking compensation for wages she claims she was promised, amounting to approximately $63,000 in total for a six-month live-in gig, paying $350 a day. As she only worked one day, Maurice was only paid for a single day’s work and was then sent home in a taxi.
The couple continue to dispute the suit, saying they do not owe the nanny any more money because there was never a contract.
Plasco said:
I’m not someone who has millions of dollars lying around to just pay off people that are coming after me for extortion. And now you’re playing straight into her hands.
My wife was two months off having a baby, suffering from a very difficult situation. You’re going to go after someone like that? That’s not a very nice thing to do.
The lawsuit is ongoing.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).