(Montreal) Two former housekeeping employees of the Algerian consulate in Montreal are suing the Algerian government and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs for approximately $450,000 in damages and unpaid wages.
Marisa Amaya, 65, and Elida Rivera Lopez, 70, say their experience working at the consulate has left them “psychologically and emotionally broken”.
Mme Amaya said in an interview Friday alongside Mme Rivera Lopez that her mental health had deteriorated so badly that at one point she thought about jumping in front of a subway.
The two women accuse the consul general of Algeria Noureddine Meriem and his wife of abuse of power and of having humiliated and harassed them at work.
Mme Amaya was hired in 2008 and Mme Rivera Lopez in 2014. The two women said they were responsible for maintaining not only the consulate in downtown Montreal, but also Mr. Meriem’s personal residence, located in another part of the city.
Mme Rivera Lopez claimed she cried constantly and didn’t want to eat anymore. “I would walk into their house and greet him, and he would look away and ignore me,” she said.
The women allege in separate lawsuits, both filed in August, that the consulate was a ‘toxic’ work environment that led them both to take sick leave in 2021. The lawsuits allege the women were victimized of “psychological violence” and “vexatious” behavior within the Algerian consulate.
According to the documents, the work stoppage and deterioration of the complainant’s mental health were directly caused by the “toxic working conditions, humiliation and abuse of power” suffered by the complainant, from which she was victim “by the consul general of Algeria in Montreal and his wife”.
However, the lawsuits do not include specific details of the harassment and humiliation Mrs.my Amaya and Rivera Lopez claim to have suffered while working at the consulate.
In a written statement, the consul said he categorically denies all of the women’s allegations, calling them “unsubstantiated and defamatory”.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
The two women say the lawyer they hired to file the lawsuit dropped them as clients earlier this week after they went public with their allegations in the Journal de Montreal. They say they are looking for a new lawyer and are pressing ahead with their lawsuits.
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