A Manhattan judge has reinstated a gutsy female dockworker who was ousted from her job for bragging about ties to a powerful mobster, a move she said she used to keep rampant sexual harassment at bay.
“Margaret Dillin may have been feisty and provocative and even unpleasant in maintaining a presence in this man’s world on the docks,” Justice Alice Schlesinger wrote in her decision. “But it seems to be the consensus that she worked hard [and] refrained from committing any actual criminal conduct, and did her best as a single mother to raise two daughters.”
Dillin, who worked the New Jersey docks, sued after the Waterfront Commission pulled her union papers last year.
, claiming she was a danger to “public peace or safety” because she attended a wine tasting and Christmas party hosted by fallen Genovese kingpin Nicholas Furina“It is a very good victory,” Dillin, 50, whose unemployment insurance runs out in November, told The Post. “Considering my age, considering I’m divorced, considering I have a 15-year-old to support myself, it’s a very good victory.”
But Dillin testified she was invited to the soirees by her boss, Furina’s son, and never actually met the mafia don.
In her decision, made public yesterday, Judge Schlesinger called the “bragging about her feigned contacts…unfortunate,” but added that the behavior is “certainly not grounds for taking away her livelihood and pension.”
Dillin’s attorney, Matthew Kesten, said it will be at least three years before his client can return to the ports as he expects a lengthy appeal process.
“They’re looking to drag it out as long as they possibly can so she can’t defend herself anymore,” said Kesten, referring to the commission, regulatory agency that canned Dillin.
The Waterfront Commission did not immediately return calls for comment.