A New York Long Island woman said she was fired after she donated a kidney to help save the life of her boss.
Debbie Stevens, a 47-year-old divorced mother of two, filed a formal complaint with the New York State Human Rights Commission last Friday, claiming her boss used her for her organ then fired her “after the woman got what she wanted.” Stevens’ boss, 61-year-old Jackie Brucia, is one of the West Islip controllers for Atlantic Automotive Group, a billion-dollar dealership operator. Brucia hired Stevens in January 2009 as an assistant.
“She just started treating me horribly, viciously, inhumanly after the surgery,” Stevens told ABCNews.com. “It was almost like she hired me just to get my kidney.” Although Stevens turned out to be less than a perfect kidney match for Brucia, Stevens donated her organ to an out-of-state stranger so that Brucia could move up on the organ donor list.
Stevens left the company in June 2010 to move to Florida. She returned to New York in September to visit her daughter, and decided to stop in at the dealership, according to the complaint. It was during this visit that Brucia told Stevens of her need for a kidney transplant.
“She said she had a possible donor, a friend or something,” Stevens said. “But I told her if anything happened that I’d be willing to donate my kidney. She kind of jokingly replied, ‘You never know, I may have to take you up on that one day.'”
A few months later, Stevens moved back to Long Island and asked Brucia if she had any job openings. Brucia hired her within weeks.
Then, in January 2011, Stevens said her boss called her into her office and asked if she was serious about donating her kidney.
“I said, ‘Yeah, sure. This isn’t a joking matter,'” Stevens said. “I did not do it for job security. I didn’t do it to get a raise. I did it because it’s who I am.
“I didn’t want her to die,” Stevens said.
