A FORMER ferry captain who ended up as a construction worker on Tinian after he was terminated has sued his former employers for alleged maltreatment and discrimination.
Nikolai Lioujanov asked the federal court to order Tinian Shipping and Transportation, Inc. and Hong Kong Overseas Entertainment, owner of Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, to pay him damages.
Lioujanov in a pro se complaint alleged that he was terminated and maltreated because he could not speak Filipino and that the Tinian Dynasty management retaliated against him for helping Russian dancers file labor complaints.
G. Anthony Long, counsel for Tinian Shipping and Tinian Dynasty, said he had not seen the lawsuit, but added that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dismissed Lioujanov’s complaint last March.
EEOC said that “based upon its investigation, it is unable to conclude that the information obtained establishes violations of the statutes.”
Lioujanov said that on April 21, 2001, as captain of the ferry, he departed on schedule at 6 a.m. even though the boat was short of one crew, who was late for work.
He said Capt. R.E. Mayshle, the operations manager, confronted him in front of five crew members and accused him of violating maritime rules by operating the boat with only five and not six crew.
Lioujanov said he explained to Mayshle that the discretion regarding the operation of the boat was his according to the maritime rules.
But the operations manager insisted that he had the authority over him and the boat at all times, Lioujanov said.
The following day at Tinian Dock, he said Mayshle accused him in the presence of passengers of not following his memo regarding bucket test before approaching the dock.
The following month, Lioujanov said when he entered Tinian Dynasty Hotel on his way to his barracks, he was surprised when a security guard stopped him and demanded that he be searched.
Lioujanov said he refused because it was the first time the security stopped him although he had been entering the complex daily on his way to his barracks during the two years of his employment.
The captain said the maltreatment began only when Mayshle became the operations manager. He said Mayshle wanted to remove him because he was the only non-Filipino captain of Tinian Shipping, the owner of the ferries.
Lioujanov said that last July, he received the termination later and subsequently in front of the crew he was immediately removed from duty on board the ferry without any explanation.
A Filipino captain replaced him as the duty master.
He said the advertisement for his replacement was also not run as required by law over the three-week period.
He said the management “retaliated” because he tried to help the Russian women dancers who were terminated by Tinian Dynasty in Feb. 2001 and replaced with dancers who would perform sexually explicit acts.
Since no shipping companies would hire him because he filed a complaint before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Lioujanov said he lost his earnings and got a job only last April as a construction worker.
Lioujanov said after working for the construction firm for less than a month he quit because no housing was provided, and he felt bad when people who knew him as ferry captain would ask him why he ended up as a construction worker.
