Whole Foods worker fired over trauma of black-widow spider bite: lawsuit

This firing really bites.

A Whole Foods staffer from New Jersey was bitten by a black-widow spider at work — and then fired because he was too terrified to return to his section, according to a lawsuit.

Richard Highsmith says the highly venomous spider bit his arm after it crawled out of a produce crate at the Paramus store in 2017, court documents show.

“The Black Widow’s venom was so potent that it progressed and caused temporary paralysis” to Highsmith’s arm, his lawsuit claims.

Highsmith was initially off work for a month, with his lawsuit claiming he needed “various hospital stints” and “hand therapy sessions” because of ongoing issues from the bite.

He was finally cleared to return — but says he was too traumatized to go back to the same produce section.

“[Highsmith] suffered debilitating anxiety and panic attacks just thinking about coming across another black widow spider,” says his suit, which is due to be heard in federal court.

The worker claims he begged to work in another section but never got replies to e-mail and texts to his boss, the court docs claim.

Despite his “desire to return to work,” he was instead fired for “job abandonment” when he stayed away rather than return to the same section, the lawsuit claims.

Highsmith is seeking lost wages, damages and lawyers’ fees and costs.

His lawsuit was initially filed last month in superior court in Bergen County but on Friday got moved to federal court.

Whole Foods has yet to reply to requests for comment.

Source: Read Full Article