A woman is suing Truist Bank in a North Carolina federal court, alleging that her managers discriminated against her, starting with an incident involving a Chucky doll.
Plaintiff Debra Jones said in her complaint that she has “major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and autoimmune disorder vitiligo,” as well as a general fear of dolls and that her Truist manager, Matthew Korr, knew of those conditions.
Chucky is the murderous main character of the “Child’s Play” movie franchise.
Ms. Jones said in the complaint that Mr. Korr put the offending doll on her chair during the last week of her training as a new hire in June 2024 and laughed when he saw her reaction to it. The doll incident worsened her condition, she said, and led her to be diagnosed with PTSD and put on eight weeks of medical leave.
Ms. Jones alleged her new manager, Jennifer Briley, singled her out for mistakes despite similar errors by her co-workers, resulting in a “performance concern document.”
On Jan. 29, following an argument between Ms. Briley and Ms. Jones over lunch breaks and work hours, Ms. Briley’s boss, Tracy Wood, told Ms. Jones that her approved accommodations to leave at 3 p.m. for medical appointments were hurting co-workers, per the plaintiff’s complaint.
Ms. Wood also told Ms. Jones that the job was perhaps not the right fit for her, that she “cannot keep using her anxiety and emotional problems as an excuse” and that she would be fired if she didn’t improve her performance over the following month.
The plaintiff said the ultimatum gave her panic attacks, and she went back on medical leave. On March 12, Ms. Jones was let go.
In all, Ms. Jones alleges that Truist Bank’s other employees intended to cause her emotional distress and discriminated against her on purpose over her disabilities.
She said in the complaint that she wants back pay with interest and a trial by jury on all issues of facts and damages for the “humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress and mental anguish caused by Defendant’s violation of the law.”
Truist Bank hasn’t responded to a request for comment from The Washington Times.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.