How Not to Fire Someone

BROOKLYN (CN) - In a textbook case of how not to fire someone, a teaching assistant claims that after she got the ax, the preschool director sent a mass email to parents defaming her as emotionally unstable.

Janiqua Mayo sued her former boss and her school in Kings County Court.

Defendant Eladia Causil-Rodriguez is founder, owner and director of Eladia's Kids, where Mayo worked.

Mayo claims Rodriquez sent this "mass email" to the parents of children enrolled at the preschool: "'[D]ue to an emotional outburst, which was extreme enough for me to send our Assistant Teacher in Miss Janiqua (Mayo) home in a cab in the middle of the day I have decided to terminate her employment with Eladia's Kids for the time being. She was unable to perform her duties as Miss Jessica's assistant and was in a condition which left me concerned for her mental and emotional stability. Although I know that Miss Janiqua was grieving for the loss of her martial arts instructor who died recently, I am not equipped to treat or supervise someone who exhibits symptoms of emotional instability.'" (Parentheses and apparent word left out as in complaint.)

Mayo claims the "false and malicious" statements interfered with her side jobs as a tutor and babysitter.

"The defendants' statement made it less likely that parents of said children would hire her to provide them with care or to teach them, something she had been doing after school hours," the complaint states.

Mayo adds that the email has left her "ostracized" from her community.

"These false statements exposed and continue to expose the plaintiff to public contempt, ridicule, aversion and disgrace," her complaint states.

She seeks $1 million for slander, plus punitive damages. She is represented by Fred Lichtmacher of Manhattan.

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