Thanks! Employee Fired After Donating Kidney to Boss

A woman named Debbie Stevens just filed a formal complaint with the New York State Human Rights Commission last Friday, claiming that her boss hired her to basically get her kidney- then fired her afterwards.

Stevens, 47, is a divorced mother of two, says that she thinks she ‘was used her for her organ then fired’ after her female boss installed the kidney.

Her boss was a 61-year-old lady named Jackie Brucia, who hired Stevens in 2009 as an assistant at the Atlantic Automotive Group. Stevens left the company and moved to Florida in June 2010, but then came back to the company in September, after locking down a job to work for Brucia again.

In September 2010, when Stevens was working for Brucia again, she offered Brucia her kidney, if ‘no one else could give her one’. But Stevens turned out to not be a kidney match for Brucia, so Stevens donated her organ to an out-of-state stranger so that Brucia could at least move up on the organ donor list.

In January 2011, Brucia asked Stevens if she could donate her kidney so she could get one faster. After Stevens had the surgery on Aug. 10, 2011, she said doctors had hit a nerve in her leg, causing her discomfort and digestive problems. After 4 weeks of leave, Stevens came back her job and says that’s when Brucia began to mistreat her back at work, then, she was transferred to work at another dealership away from Brucia.

Stevens says she was then fired soon after the transfer, and that’s when she filed a lawsuit.

ABC News reports, “Stevens’ attorney, civil rights lawyer Lenard Leeds, said he planned to file a discrimination lawsuit against AAG, and would likely seek millions of dollars in compensation.”

Leeds told ABC News, “Our ultimate goal is to bring this before federal court. We’re alleging they discriminated against her for her disability and they retaliated against her when she complained about the harassment.”

Leeds tells ABC that “the damages sought will be for Stevens’ lost pay, psychological and physical well being.”