Suit Claims Zoo Unfair to Women Jews

A senior animal keeper who has worked at the San Diego Zoo for 15 years has filed suit against her employer, alleging that her superiors have discriminated against her because she is a Jewish woman.

In a civil suit filed in September, Susan Krinsk, a senior keeper in the zoo’s mammal department, alleged that she had been denied several promotions solely because of her sex and religious beliefs.

The complaint, which also includes a class-action claim, says the zoo “follows a course and policy of refusing to promote women. . . . Such conduct was malicious and oppressive, motivated by a cruel hatred of plaintiff and her status as a woman and a Jewish person.”

In an answer filed in November, attorneys for the zoo denied Krinsk’s allegations, saying she had failed to state facts sufficient to merit her complaint. According to Jeff Jouett, a spokesman for the zoo, 64 of the zoo’s 145 keepers are women; among the zoo’s 37 mammal keepers, 12 are women.

The zoo has no records of its employees’ religious affiliations, Jouett said. But last month, in response to Krinsk’s lawsuit, zoo employees received memos that asked them to identify their sex, religion and the department they work in, but not to include their names.

“I cannot comment on any litigation in progress,” Jouett said Wednesday. “But I will say this: the zoo does not discriminate, not on the basis of religion or sex or race or national origin or age or marital status or any other irrelevant criteria.”

Krinsk, 36, who is responsible for the care and maintenance of 40 animals in the zoo’s Dog and Cat Canyon area, says Jouett is wrong.

In June, 1988, the zoo posted an opening for five lead keeper positions in the mammals department. Krinsk thought that her experience and her degree in animal behavior would make her a strong candidate for the supervisory job, so she applied.

The zoo refused to interview Krinsk and gave four of the positions to men who were less qualified than Krinsk, her suit claims. The fifth position was given to a woman who Krinsk claims is also less qualified.

Arthur H. Skola, Krinsk’s attorney, said he believes Krinsk is a victim of subtle double standards.

“A defense the zoo will offer is that she exhibited behavior traits that appear negatively in her evaluations,” Skola said. “But those very character traits in a man would be positive rather than negative. They perceive her as pushy and bossy because she speaks up. If the behavior was exhibited by a man, it would be seen as assertive and forceful--good qualities.”

For her part, Krinsk says the zoo is punishing her for filing suit. In January, after eight years of having at least one weekend day off each week, she has been shifted to two weekdays off--despite the fact that only five people have worked in the mammal department longer than she has.

“I love this zoo. I have tried so hard to make it here. But there’s no chance,” she said. “I’m being harassed right now.”

Krinsk says she believes her religion has been a factor in her bosses’ minds as well.

“I’ve heard the word JAP several times,” she said, referring to the derogatory slang term for Jewish American princess.