A Vancouver couple who filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court against their Irish nanny who quit without notice have withdrawn the case.
David Aaron and Gloria Garofalo’s lawsuit sought damages for the effect Roisin Murphy’s abrupt decision to leave the job had on their ability to earn income and punitive damages for the “egregious disregard to the interests of the children.”
In an email early Wednesday, Aaron, who is a lawyer, says the notice of lawsuit was “never served” and is “not proceeding.”
Postmedia News has asked Aaron for further comment but hasn’t yet received a response.
“She didn’t say goodbye to the children,” they say in the lawsuit filed 10 days after 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. on Monday to Friday for $20 an hour, and their children, aged four and two, did “trust and tenderly bond with the defendant,” according to the suit.
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, Murphy 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.
— With files from Susan Lazaruk