How bad is that? An anorexic man says he was discriminated against while working on TV chef Rachael Ray’s talk show.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Aaron Ferguson charged he was forced out of his position as a payroll accountant for the “Rachael Ray” show. He said the move was retaliation for his complaints about “vile comments” his boss made about anorexic people, including, “Anorexics should not be able to work.”
The suit says Ferguson “has suffered from anorexia for approximately six years.”
He went to work for the “30 Minute Meals” author’s show in July 2007 but soon felt it wasn’t a good fit thanks to the tart tongue of production accountant Mary Kelly, the suit says.
Kelly “regularly remarked in Mr. Ferguson’s presence” that “anorexics are sick in the head,” the suit says, and made a slew of nasty comments about another Ray staffer.
Kelly said that that staffer was “too skinny to do her job” and that “maybe if [she] ate something, she would be able to work,” according to the suit.
Ferguson talked to one of Kelly’s bosses about her conduct in October, the suit says. The boss told him to talk to Kelly about the situation – a recommendation that didn’t turn out so fantabulously.
He told her that her remarks “were extremely hurtful to him personally and that she had created a hostile work environment,” and she told him, “I can say whatever I want to say . . . Are you giving your two weeks’ notice from today?” according to the suit.
She “stormed out of her chair and began yelling at Mr. Ferguson, who quietly stood up and left the meeting,” the suit says.
He tried to talk to Kelly’s boss again, but he blew him off, the suit says. Ferguson then met with a human-resources representative, who told him, “That is how television works.”
He then endured an unspecified “new form of harassment,” and when he went back to HR to complain, he was told he could make that day his last day on the show and get $4,000 for “all the trouble he had to go through,” the suit says.
His last day of work was Oct. 31, 2007.
The suit names the show’s distributor and two of the “Rachael Ray” show’s staffers and seeks $1.5 million for discrimination and retaliation.
Ray is not named as a defendant. A spokeswoman for the show declined comment, citing the pending litigation.