When one employee, Tammy Armstrong, began working with I-Behavior, a consumer data tracking company, she did not realize that she would be working a job that would try to kill her. Armstrong is from Rapid City, South Dakota and she has filed a lawsuit against I-Behavior in Colorado. Armstrong’s lawyer outlined some of the evidence against her employer to prove that it abused Armstrong. One bit of evidence was that I-Behavior made her work more than the traditional 40 hours per week. Armstrong works as a senior accountant.
Armstrong also claims in the lawsuit that she was wrongly classified as an employee who is exempt from overtime so that her employer could rip her off while expecting that she work more than 40 hours per week. Armstrong is asking for three years’ worth of overtime payments, which are valued at $28,000, along with interest and attorney’s fees. To go along with these claims, Armstrong is also filing state law claims for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Wrongful Discharge in Violation of Public Policy and Willful Violation of the Colorado Wage Claims Act.
The complaint states the following:
“Throughout Ms. Armstrong’s employment, Defendant maintained a hostile work environment that included verbal abuse, assault, and massive amounts of work heaped on Ms. Armstrong that necessitated her working many overtime hours, including nights and weekends, to get it all done. Ms. Armstrong frequently complained about the work environment and her workload, to no avail.
The stress and pressure caused by the work environment and the workload caused Ms. Armstrong to experience serious negative physical problems, including heart problems that resulted in two trips to hospital emergency departments, on May 13, 2011 and July 29, 2011. Ms. Armstrong specifically requested accommodations and a relief in the stress and pressure that were placed on her since her cardiologist advised her that such stress and pressure could cause permanent damage to her heart. However, Defendant failed to make any accommodations to the significant physical symptoms Ms. Armstrong was experiencing as a direct and proximate result of Defendant’s work environment and the demands and pressure it placed on Ms. Armstrong.”
The duties that Armstrong was responsible for included accounts receivable, accounts payable, assisting with the preparation of tax returns, assisting with the month-end financial reports, assisting with banking accounts and performing other types of accounting services. Armstrong claims that her supposed heart condition qualifies not only under federal law but also under state law. The condition also implies, according to Armstrong that since her employer ignored her warnings that her job was really killing her. This leads Armstrong to conclude that she was being discriminated against by her employer.