NYC library worker weighing 360 lbs ‘traumatized’ over small desk — sues for $4.6 million

William Martin was working for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library in New York City and was told to work at a first-floor desk for his job, per the New York Post. Martin found the space to be a little too small for him in 2021, leading him to sue at the Brooklyn Federal Court over the "crammy" desk. The library denied the allegations and has said it is a frivolous attempt to sue.

Martin wrote in the legal document, “All I sought was just a service desk with the appropriate accommodation given my physical attributes." He accused his employer of discrimination as well as harassment over the situation. A union ultimately helped Martin get a larger desk to be seated at.

But the story for Martin was not over, as around 2023, a new library superior told him that he had to make his way back to work at the first-floor service desk. According to court documents, when he complained about the desk once again, the library director would assign him to the desk more often which the suit said was “detrimental to his health and safety."

The lawsuit alleged that the library director wanted to "bully William and intimidate him, showing him ‘who is the boss.'” The lawsuit said he was then "falsely accused" of sleeping on the job at the library and got suspended from the job.

Martin expressed in the lawsuit that his "mental health has been damaged to such extent that . . . he would tremble just at the thought of going back to work." When the New York Post reached out to the library for comment on the lawsuit, a spokesman said that the legal case was "without merit" and added, “We take employee accommodations and concerns with utmost seriousness, and are dedicated to treating our staff across the Library with fairness and respect.”