Workers compensation lawyers are urging a judge to force a New York City worker to pay her ex-boss $20 million in a wrongful termination lawsuit after she says she was fired for reporting her former employer’s misconduct to the company.
Jodi Mazzucato, 40, is suing the City of New York for wrongful termination and wage theft for alleging she was terminated for speaking out against her former boss’s actions.
Mazzucana filed the lawsuit against her ex, Joe Sacco, in March 2016.
She says she and Sacco began working together in 2013 and became friends.
She said they worked in the same department and that they both had high-paying jobs.
But after her bosses failed to provide her with her severance and medical benefits, she filed a complaint with the city alleging that her contract was terminated in February 2017.
Mizzucana claims she was dismissed for reporting an incident of inappropriate behavior by Sacco that had occurred in his office, which was located at the company’s Queens warehouse.
She alleges that the company also fired her after she filed the complaint, despite a claim in her contract that it was a voluntary separation.
Mazucato claims the city fired her because of her reporting and not because of any alleged misconduct.
Mozilla, which is owned by Google, says it is the only technology company in the world that provides workers compensation benefits to employees in their jobs, and that Mazzuccana’s claim was incorrect.
Mizrak said Mazzukis claims about Sacco’s behavior in her former job are inaccurate, and said she does not believe the city should have terminated her contract.
Muzrak added that she was not aware of any other allegations of wrongful termination by the company against any of its workers, and did not believe that her termination was wrongful.MZs lawyers, however, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mitzrak said she plans to appeal the ruling to the New York Supreme Court.