Holy guacamole!
A Manhattan chef pocketed $1.6 million after restaurateur Edward Globokar turned his TriBeCa Mexican eatery into a makeshift house of worship where he prayed for God to heal gay workers.
Jurors awarded lesbian chef Mirella Salemi the fat payout in her battle against the former owner of Mary Ann’s on West Broadway for making her life hell by holding employee prayer meetings inside the restaurant where she worked for six years.
“He not only threatened her soul, but he also threatened her livelihood,” said Derek Smith, a lawyer for Salemi. “He thought praying might cure her of her sexuality, but she is someone who didn’t need to be saved.”
The Manhattan jury ordered the holy-roller restaurant big and Mary Ann’s to fork over $1.2 million in punitive damages and $400,000 in compensatory damages to Salemi, who quit in 2007.
Globokar, who once owned six Mexican restaurants in Manhattan, was accused of discriminating against employees who didn’t share his religious or personal beliefs — and telling them they faced eternal damnation unless they went to church.