She simply wanted to show goodwill by donating her kidney to her boss. However, instead of receiving gratitude, this woman found herself unemployed! Her health has never returned to normal due to the surgery, and now she is seeking justice!
This woman gave a part of herself!
Our story begins in January 2009, when Debbie Stevens started working for Atlantic Automotive Group in New York. At the time, the 34-year-old woman was the assistant to Jackie Brucia, one of the company’s managers. However, she moved to Florida in June 2010, which forced her to leave her position!
Two months later, she returned to New York to check on her former boss, who told her that she was facing serious health issues. Fortunately, the doctors seemed to have a plan for her recovery. “She told me that she had a potential donor, a friend or something like that,” Stevens recalls.
Before adding, “But I told her that if anything happened, I would be willing to donate my kidney. She jokingly responded, ‘You never know, I might have to take you up on that offer someday.’ Indeed, she was right to offer her help, as the first option was no longer available. Her boss asked if her offer still stood!
Negative consequences for her work!
Just before donating her kidney, Stevens rejoined Brucia’s dealership. She stated, “I said, ‘Yes, of course. This is not a joke.’ I didn’t do it for job security. I didn’t do it to get a raise.” She also added, “I did it because it’s my personality. I didn’t want her to die.”
Unfortunately, the kidney of this woman was not compatible with her boss’s metabolism. Therefore, she donated it to someone else to ensure that Brucia could receive hers as quickly as possible. The doctors quickly found another donor to save their patient’s life. At the same time, Stevens underwent the surgery!
The young woman was allowed a month of recovery after the doctors’ intervention, but upon returning to the office, she was not fully healed. Worse, her leg and stomach hurt so much that she could not work normally! Despite this, her boss accused her of faking her pain and yelled at her daily.
This woman is not going to stop here!
According to Stevens: “I don’t have strong enough words to describe how she treated me.” Her boss eventually transferred her to another location 80 km from her home, which caused significant mental trauma for Stevens. “It got so bad that I started crying at times,” she recounts.
Ultimately, Stevens decided to seek justice and asked her lawyer to assist her. Her lawyer stated: “Our ultimate goal is to bring the case to federal court. We argue that they discriminated against her due to her disability and retaliated against her when she complained about harassment.”
