LI woman sues Babies R Us over peanut allergy

A Roosevelt woman is suing her former employer, Babies R Us, for $3 million after she says the store failed to accommodate her peanut allergy and forced her to quit.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Monique Thomas, 22, alleges that workers at the Babies R Us in Westbury violated her civil rights by dismissing her allergy to peanuts as "insignificant" and forcing her to work around the product.

"They were putting their bottom line above my health," Thomas said Wednesday.

A manager at the Westbury Babies R Us store would not comment on the lawsuit.

Company officials in Wayne, N.J., "have not seen a copy of the lawsuit, and we are looking into the matter," Jennifer Albano, a spokeswoman for Toys R Us, said in an e-mail.

Toys R Us is the parent company of Babies R Us and is also named in the suit.

According to Thomas, she told managers of her allergy when she was hired four years ago. She said they assured her that she would not encounter peanuts and that store policy did not allow employees to eat on the sales floor. About a year later, the store began selling candy containing peanuts, Thomas said.

Fearful that she might have a reaction, Thomas, then a cashier, said she asked managers to move the products. She says they told her the allergy was not serious and that she would have to continue working or quit.

"I felt really bad but I needed a job," Thomas said.

On Feb. 2, 2009, after a customer waiting in line began eating peanut candy, Thomas had trouble breathing. She was rushed to the hospital where records show she went into anaphylactic shock, an allergic reaction that can lead to death.

Dr. Muataz Jaber, an allergist based in Rockville Centre and vice president of the Long Island Allergy and Asthma Society, said "People should not dismiss this. People can die."

Following the first incident, Thomas said the peanut products were removed from around her register. But, on Jan. 31, Thomas said she was again rushed to the hospital in shock after a manager allowed a co-worker to eat Reese's Pieces on the sales floor. On Feb. 4, Thomas quit.

Her lawyer, Kenneth Mollins, said under New York State law a peanut allergy is a disability and must be dealt with as such. Thomas is seeking both punitive damages as well as compensation for having to quit her job.

"She had to quit to save her life," Mollins said.