Woman Fired After Donating Kidney to Boss, Suit Alleges
New York businesswoman Debbie Stevens has filed a complaint against her former boss Jackie Brucia, alleging that Brucia took her kidney and then fired her.
"I decided to become a kidney donor to my boss, and she took my heart," Stevens told the New York Post.
Stevens has filed a wrongful termination suit against Brucia after she was let go in 2011. She alleges that Brucia purposely hired her after she made a comment about donating a kidney to Brucia, who was sick. Brucia, the report filed in court state, "apparently groomed Stevens to be her 'backup plan.'"
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Back in 2010, Stevens and Brucia were coworkers and Stevens said she "if necessary, would be willing to donate a kidney. Brucia told her, 'You never know, I may have to take you up on that offer one day.'"
When a transplant fell through, Brucia called Stevens into her office.
"'My donor was denied,' Brucia said. 'Where you serious when you said that?' I said, 'Sure, yeah.' She was my boss; I respected her. It's just who I am. I didn't want her to die," Stevens said.
Yet immediately after the transplant, things drastically changed in their relationship. When Stevens returned to work mere weeks after the transplant, she did not feel well. After three days at work, Stevens decided to take a day off and recover. Brucia called her at home, from her own home where she was recovering.
"She said, 'What are you doing? Why aren't you at work?' I told her I didn't feel good," Stevens told The Post. Brucia replied, "You can't come and go as you please. People are going to think you're getting special treatment."
When Brucia finally returned to work, things only got worse, Stevens said. Brucia would publicly berate her in the workplace and eventually sent her to work at a facility 50 miles from her home. After Stevens consulted a psychiatrist and lawyers who wrote to the company on her behalf, she was terminated.
The Post reported that Brucia failed to return their calls and was seen "getting into a limo with plastic cups and what appeared to be a bottle of pink champagne." This would certainly be frowned upon and would have disqualified her from receiving a transplant in the first place.
"I feel very betrayed," Stevens said. "This has been a very hurtful and horrible experience for me. She just took this gift on the ground and kicked it."
