MIAMI – Marie Jean Pierre, a 60-year-old Haitian migrant, earned a meager pay while washing dishes for the Conrad Miami hotel in Brickell for a decade. If it was up to the jurors who heard her case in federal court, she would be a millionaire.
Earlier this week, a federal jury ruled infavor of Pierre getting $21.5 million in damages from the hotel, but she may never get a dime. The hotel is refusing to pay Pierre saying that they will be appealing the ruling.
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Pierre filed the lawsuit in 2017 claiming the hotel violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when they scheduled her to work on Sunday despite having agreed to her request when she was hired in 2006 and accomodating her for several years.
Pierre, who is a member of the Bethel Baptist Church in Miami's Brownsville neighborhood, is a Christian missionary. After ignoring her request over her religious commitments, the hotel fired her in 2016 for missing work on Sunday.
Pierre's attorney Marc Brumer told The Associated Press that if the hotel is forced to pay she will likely get about $500,000 because punitive damages are capped in federal court.