Thaindian News

Three-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa are being sued by their former housekeeper Maria Jimenez.

Maria claims she was repeatedly “harassed and humiliated” and that she was never given the health insurance that the Bryants had promised her when they hired her. She also said she was being made to work under “intolerable conditions.”

Jimenez said Mrs. Bryant called her lazy, slow, dumb, a liar and used several expletives to address her in front of her husband, children and others. Later when Maria requred medical care she found out that she did not have the medical insurance that the

Bryants had said they would buy for her when they hired her in September 2007. She quit in March 2008.

Jimenez also reported that Vanessa Bryant had screamed at her and hurled expletives when she made the mistake of washing an expensive blouse in the washing machine. Vanessa then made Jimenez retrieve the price tag of the blouse out of a bag containing dog waste. Jimenez gave her notice that day but Vanessa made her work till her next pay check to pay for the damage to the $690 blouse. Maria Jimenez said she did.

William Vogeler, Jimenez’s lawyer said she was not just fired but charged wrongly, and said, “She quit but because the working conditions were intolerable, we allege it was a violation of labor laws that protect people from working in unhealthy situations.” Maria Jimenez is seeking unspecified, punitive and other damages along with back pay and overtime that she clams she has not been paid for.