Legal / Law News: Lawsuit Alleges Grieving Woman with PTSD Requests Unpaid Leave, Instead Allegedly Put in Psych Lockdown by Employer Westfield Holdings

A grieving British woman with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome from seeing her Aussie husband die suddenly in front of her, has filed a lawsuit against her employer alleging, amongst other charges, false imprisonment.

When Morris Robertson wrote a despairing email about her feelings, her supervisor called the police and provided them with false information that led to her being taken away in handcuffs and held against her will in a psychological detention unit.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 4, 2010 -- According to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court (Case: BC 427725), Kay Morris-Robertson, a British national and former executive with Westfield Holdings, began to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after her husband died suddenly of a heart attack right in front of her, as they were sailing off the coast of Southern California. She was in an executive position in Los Angeles at Westfield Holdings, part of the Westfield Group, known as the $62 billion operator of 119 shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. As a result of her experience, she asked her supervisor for unpaid leave. According to the suit, he gave her more work instead.

The suit alleges that when Morris Robertson wrote a despairing email about her feelings, her supervisor called the police and allegedly provided them with false information that led to her being taken away in handcuffs and held against her will in a psychological detention unit.

Among other allegations, the complaint charges that:

Despite notifying her Westfield supervisor that she had been diagnosed with PTSD in November 2008, Morris-Robertson was never informed of her rights under the Family Medical Leave Act or the California Family Rights Act;
When she asked for unpaid leave to attend therapy sessions in order to cope with her disability, she was threatened with termination by her Westfield supervisor.
Her first visit to a PTSD therapist which she had located on her own was prevented when Westfield supervisors interceded and had her detained by police, even though she was not on their premises and had taken the day off to seek medical treatment.
She was placed in a psychological detention unit against her will and held for several days with no opportunity to notify her family of her whereabouts, exacerbating her PTSD condition.

Morris-Robertson’s complaint lists a litany of alleged charges against her Westfield employers, including Failure to Accommodate Disability; Failure to Engage in Interactive Process; Disability Discrimination; Violation of California Family Rights Act; Retaliation in Violation of California Family Rights Act; Wrongful Constructive Termination in Violation of Public Policy; Harassment; Negligence; False Imprisonment; Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; Invasion of Privacy; Internationally Giving False Information; and Gender Discrimination.

The complaint and other background information is online at www.morrisvswestfield.com

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