Engineer: I was fired for refusing to work in Cuba

Posted on Wednesday, 04.22.09
Engineer: I was fired for refusing to work in Cuba
A German engineer residing in South Florida on a work visa claims in a
federal lawsuit that his refusal to work in Cuba got him fired.
BY PATRICK DANNER
pdanner@MiamiHerald.com

A German engineer working for a U.S. company in Fort Lauderdale alleges
he was fired after he refused an assignment to manage the construction
of power plants in Cuba.

Wolf Schoenborn asserts in a federal lawsuit that the request from
engine manufacturer Man Diesel North America violated the U.S. trade
embargo with Cuba and the Trading with the Enemy Act.

''I have told them, what you are asking me is to break U.S. law,''
Schoenborn said in explaining why he turned down the request in 2007.
Schoenborn, who now is a permanent resident living in Weston, was in the
United States on a work visa at the time.

Poul Korsgaard, president of Man Diesel North America, said: ''Man
Diesel has not worked in Cuba and will not work in Cuba under U.S. law.
We are a U.S. company. We have to follow U.S. law.'' He declined further
comment.

Man Diesel North America is the N.J.-based affiliate of Germany's Man
Diesel SE, a manufacturer of engines for power plants and ships.

Man Diesel North America hired Schoenborn, 67, in late 2006 as a marine
engineer and superintendent to primarily oversee engine maintenance of
cruise lines' fleets at Florida ports. His annual salary was $100,000.

Schoenborn's three-year contract stated Schoenborn might be directed to
work from Man Diesel Canada's offices in Toronto from ''time to time.''
Separately, Man Diesel North America maintains the contract was
unenforceable because Schoenborn returned it too late, according to his
suit.

On his first visit to the Canadian company shortly after he was hired to
work in Fort Lauderdale, Schoenborn said the company's general manager
told him he was needed in Cuba to oversee some power-plant projects.
Schoenborn said he was chosen because he speaks Spanish and for his
experience working on power plants.

Schoenborn said he declined, pointing out that he couldn't travel to
Cuba because he was employed by a U.S. company.

'They said, `we have an arrangement with the Cuban government that they
don't put a seal on the passport,' '' Schoenborn said. ''I said I can't
do that. If that goes wrong, then I'm screwed.'' Schoenborn's wife and
two sons' visas were issued because of his work visa. He also believed
if he went to Cuba he ran the risk of not getting back in the United States.

Korsgaard notified Schoenborn in a March 2007 letter that his employment
had been terminated.

Schoenborn responded last month by suing Man Diesel North America under
the Florida Whistle-blower's Act, alleging he was fired in retaliation
for refusing to violate the trade embargo or the Trading with the Enemy
Act. He said he wants more than $100,000 in damages. The company removed
the suit from Broward Circuit Court to the federal court in Fort
Lauderdale last week.

A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets
Control, which administers trade sanctions, couldn't be reached for
comment Tuesday. Its website says the Cuban Assets Control Regulations
under the Trading with the Enemy Act apply to ``all U.S. citizens and
permanent residents wherever they are located, [and] all people and
organizations physically in the United States.''

Said Enrique Gonzalez III, a Coral Gables immigration lawyer who is not
involved in the case: ``This is a classic issue for a lot of
multinational corporations that have operations in Cuba.''

Multinational corporations, he added, often contend they are exempt from
U.S. law outside the United States. But Gonzalez said companies run the
risk of getting in trouble if they want workers living in the United
States on H-1B visas to travel to Cuba. Those workers also could be
subject to criminal or civil actions, he said.

A spokesman for Man Diesel SE in Germany said he did not know if Man
Diesel's Canadian operation does business in Cuba.

Schoenborn, meanwhile, was hired last year by London Offshore
Consultants in Fort Lauderdale, surveying damage to ship engines and
machinery for their owners or marine-insurance companies.

Engineer: I was fired for refusing to work in Cuba - Business -
MiamiHerald.com (1 May 2009)

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1011307.html