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Law360 (April 23, 2020, 5:37 PM EDT) -- The former general counsel at a Dallas-area real estate development and investment company said in a lawsuit Thursday that she was fired for complying with a shelter-in-place order implemented to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Amy Reggio wants more than $1 million from Tekin and Associates LLC over claims her boss was "belligerent and annoyed" by her request to work from home and then fired her for pushing to comply with Dallas County's "shelter-in-place" order, according to her state court petition.
Reggio lives in Dallas County and the company is based in Frisco, a suburb north of the city in Collin County, which has more lax stay-at-home orders than Dallas County. She sought to comply with Dallas County's shelter-in-place order and work remotely instead of going into the office, but she claims that when she told her boss she wanted to work from home, he responded that the idea "did not work for him" and wasn't allowed, the suit said.
She says she was fired "within minutes" of sending an email to her boss, Mark Tekin, that asked him to stop insisting she come into work and break the law "under the threat of termination."
"No employee should have to choose between, on one hand, the health and safety of family and complying with the law and, on the other hand, continued employment in these uncertain and scary economic times," Reggio said in her petition.
A representative for Tekin and Associates did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reggio said Tekin fired her for the sole reason that she refused to travel to Collin County for work. But the company is not involved in any essential business services, and Reggio would have been able to complete her work from home, the petition said.
She alleges wrongful discharge, claiming her boss violated state policy by trying to pressure her to commit a criminal act subject to penalties and then firing her for not agreeing to do so.
Reggio also wants punitive damages for the company's alleged "malicious, reckless, and consciously indifferent conduct."
"We are in unprecedented times and the last concern any of us should have is that our employer will flatly refuse to concede that health concerns and complying with the law are viable reasons to work remotely," Joshua Iacuone, a Rogge Dunn Group PC attorney representing Reggio, said in a statement. He added that he's seen an explosion of COVID-19-related matters lately, including requests to review employment agreements from people who have been laid off.
According to the petition, Reggio's email to Tekin was sent on March 27 and said that she hoped "you will stop trying to require me (and other Dallas County residents and residents of other counties with the same orders) under the threat of termination to come to the office…"
Reggio is represented by Rogge Dunn and Joshua J. Iacuone of Rogge Dunn Group PC.
Representation information for Tekin was not immediately available Thursday.
The case is Amy Reggio v. Tekin & Associates LLC, cause number CC-20-01986, in the County Court of Dallas County, Texas.
--Editing by Daniel King.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
