Maria Jimenez, the former maid to basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa, filed a lawsuit Friday in Orange County Superior Court, in which she claimed the couple "harassed and humiliated" her and failed to provide health coverage, as promised when she was hired.
The maid also alleges that she was forced to quit because of "intolerable" working conditions.
Specifically, the 48-year-old maid says Vanessa was repeatedly and incredibly abusive of her. In one instance, she says Vanessa ordered her to put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve the price tag of a blouse.
Maria claims Mrs. Bryant called her "lazy, slow dumb, a f---ing liar, and a f---ing piece of sh-t," and when she said she wanted to quit, Vanessa responded that she "had to work until payday to pay for the $690 blouse, which she did."
According to the court papers, Maria worked six days a week, for 10 to 12 hours a day, in the Bryants' home from Sept. 2007 to March 2008, handling a number of tasks that included cleaning their house, washing their laundry and cleaning up after their children.
After merely two weeks on the job, Maria claims, Vanessa started accusing her every now and then. The maid said she learned that she didn't have health insurance only when she became ill and sought medical attention.
Maria says Vanessa "badgered, harassed and humiliated" her "by yelling, screaming and criticizing her in front of Kobe, their children, employees and other people in the house."
According to Maria’s lawyer, William Vogeler, his client was wrongly discharged because she was working under "intolerable circumstances" that forced her to leave the job.
Maria is now suing couple for invasion of privacy, emotional distress, unpaid wages and wrongful discharge. In her lawsuit, Maria is seeking unspecified general, punitive and special damages. She claims she is owed more than $20,000 in earnings that were wrongly withheld.
Meanwhile, the Bryants denied the allegations and issued a statement via the law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP.
"Ms. Jimenez's outrageous allegations of improper conduct are totally unfounded and patently false," the statement reads. "The Bryants intend to vigorously defend against these untruthful allegations and are confident that the baseless nature of the allegations will be proven."
Kobe's maid
this is ridiculous. I was a housemaid for about a 1 1/2 yr., before married. And in the "real life" u do not get healthcare. First it was a white woman trying to get money from Kobe, now a mexican , and I am mexican. Shame on u. why can't u just be happy with a paying job? Working for anyone with such high profile u r going to have high,http many, or stressful tasks. And in reality , in any case , it is she said/they said. She took a job ,and who knows it could have been what she did not expect. she did not get what she wants, and now lets whine. What is wrong with our society. I hope Kobe & Vanessa win. This is the kind of things that r wasting money.
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