Woman with doll phobia sues boss after prank allegedly left her with PTSD

Global News

19-06-2025

A former Truist Bank employee has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming her manager thought it was Child's Play to prank her by placing a Chucky doll on her chair during training.
Debra Jones alleges the prank caused her to suffer a severe panic attack and claims she needed weeks of medical leave after the stunt featuring the Chucky doll, known from the Child's Play horror movie franchise.
Jones accused the manager, identified as Matthew Korr, of deliberately traumatizing her and alleged she was discriminated against because of her medical conditions, which include 'major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and autoimmune disorder vitiligo,' according to court documents obtained by People.
She said her employer knew she had those medical conditions and that the incident took place in June 2024, during her last week of new hire training.
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Jones said she told her manager that she had a crippling fear of dolls so he threw her into full panic mode when he placed 'the doll that kills people, in Plaintiff's office chair.'
According to the lawsuit filed in Nash County, Jones said her manager's actions interfered with her training and worsened her medical condition. She added that the manager laughed when he saw her reaction to seeing the doll on her chair.
Jones was treated by a medical provider on the same day as the prank and placed on medical leave for eight weeks after receiving a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to the court documents.
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When Jones returned to work in August 2024, she said she was assigned a new manager and claimed that there were continuous problems with her, including an incident when the manager made a joke in front of her and other team members about her being 'always fraudulent vigilant' after Jones discovered a fraudulent cheque.
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Jones said she found the joke to be offensive and argued in the complaint that she was treated differently from other team members when she made mistakes and alleged that the treatment was based on her disabilities.
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The complaint noted another incident in January 2025 when another Truist manager allegedly told Jones that her accommodation of leaving work at 3 p.m. three times a week for treatment of her autoimmune disorder was affecting other employees who needed time off.
The manager allegedly told Jones that the job might not be a good fit for her and that she can't keep using her 'emotional and anxiety problems as an excuse.' The complaint alleges that the manager hinted that Jones would be fired if she didn't improve.
Jones alleged that she experienced panic attacks after the meeting with the manager and was taken out of work for treatment of her disabilities.
In March, Jones claims that her employer notified her to pick up her personal belongings at the office.
Jones is suing Truist Bank for emotional distress and discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. She is seeking compensation for lost wages, emotional pain and mental anguish for an unspecified amount.
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A similar situation took place in the U.K. in May when an NHS worker was awarded close to 30,000 pounds (C$55,000) after being compared to Star Wars bad guy Darth Vader at work by a former colleague.
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Lorna Rooke said that in 2021, a co-worker took a Star Wars-themed Myers-Briggs personality test on her behalf that likens participants to one of the franchise's characters.
Rooke, a blood donation bank employee, was given Darth Vader — the Sith lord widely viewed as one of the most powerful, hated villains of the franchise — as her personality doppelganger, but said she was not present when her colleague, Amanda Harber, took the quiz for her, saying she had left the room to answer a personal phone call. Harber then disseminated the results among their colleagues.
An employment tribunal in Croydon, London, ruled that the incident was a 'detriment' because it harmed Rooke and impacted her negatively, the BBC reported.
As a result of the quiz, Rooke was made to feel widely disliked, which contributed to her low mood and led her to feel anxious in the workplace, the tribunal found.
She won the detriment case and was compensated 28,989.62 pounds, which equates to C$53,288.76.
— With files from Global News' Rachel Goodman