A Vancouver couple who “emphatically requested … an explicit commitment” from a nanny to work to the beginning of December are suing her for damages after she quit without notice with six weeks left on her contract.
David Aaron and Gloria Garofalo’s lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court seeks damages for the effect her leaving will have on their ability to earn income and punitive damages for the “egregious disregard to the interests of the children.”
“She didn’t say goodbye to the children,” they say in the lawsuit filed 10 days after Roisin Murphy told them by email she was quitting without notice.
The commitment she made to stay until December “protected the emotional interests of the children in opening up, trusting and bonding to a child-care provider without disruption and without broken bonds and expectations,” the lawsuit said.
Murphy started on Sept. 14, working 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday for $20 an hour, and their children, aged four and two, did “trust and tenderly bond with the defendant.”
Hiring her allowed the parents to work during the day. Aaron is a lawyer in the field of class actions and administrative law.
On Oct. 18, Roisin told Aaron she may be coming down with a cold and he asked her to go home for the day as a precaution against giving her cold to the children, the claim said.
“The stay home sick request was communicated verbally by the plaintiff Aaron in the presence of the children in a manner that was caring, courteous and professional,” it said.
She left and later that evening invoiced the couple for her service up to Oct. 18 and the couple paid her wages, including for the sick day, it said.
That was a Friday and, on the following Sunday, she sent an email and “cited the stay home sick request” as the reason she was quitting, according to the lawsuit.
Her quitting left the children “abandoned” by someone with whom “they had formed a bond of trust and reliance, as well as an expectation of ongoing connection and care,” it said.
And it left the parents without a nanny and unable to work, “resulting in a loss of opportunity to earn professional income and meet their financial commitments” and they suffered and continued to suffer financial loss, it said.
They said the “abrupt and groundless” termination was without just cause, which constitutes negligence and breach of contract and it occurred in “blatant disregard for the emotional interests of the children.”
Murphy, who the claim said is an Irish citizen, couldn’t be located for comment. A message was left with Aaron requesting comment.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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