Most New Yorkers gripe that they live in a closet, but this man actually did.
A Bronx shopping-center maintenance man claims in a lawsuit that he was forced to sleep in a tiny electrical closet every weekend for 13 years in order to keep his job.
Nathaniel Greenbro’s bed was a scavenged sofa, his kitchen was a small refrigerator, and his home decor consisted of dangerous, dangling wires, according to the suit filed Friday in Manhattan federal court.
And for his last six months at Shopwell Plaza in Eastchester, Greenbro’s bosses made him stay in the cramped space every day of the week, he said.
“There were big, big rats. They came from the dumpster, and they came from the sprinkler room,” he told The Post.
“Sometimes they crawl over you when you were asleep.”
Greenbro, who started the job in 2002, said he feared for his safety in the closet.
“It was very terrible. I was scared that one day something might blow up,” Greenbro said of the dangling wires.
“It was the worst place I ever lived. I don’t have no light. It’s not safe to open the door. There’s no window. When it’s hot, it’s extra hot.”
Greenbro, an African immigrant, also noted that some of the fire boxes were left open and didn’t have screws.
“One mistake and if I’m in there sleeping, I could die,” he said.
The suit names his employers — Boston Post LLC and owner Shmiel Deutsch — who Greenbro says instructed him to stay in the closet to keep a close watch on a rowdy nearby nightclub, according to his lawyers, Matthew Blit and Justin Clark.
Greenbro said he endured living there because he had limited options and needed the money to support his family.
“I try everything to take care of my family — work, stay out of trouble. I never had no chance to go to college,” he said.
His bosses made him remain on call seven days a week, 365 days a year for under $400 a week, the suit says.
He was never paid a dime for the overtime that he worked, the suit alleges.
While on a security detail, he seriously injured his arm in an altercation with a man who was dumping debris on the mall grounds.
Greenbro was terminated July 1, 2015, after his employer refused to pay his medical bills, the suit says.
He is suing for unspecified damages.
Mall officials claim they were doing him a favor.
“Once in a while, he would stay there because he’s homeless,” an official who declined to give his name told The Post.