Pharmacist sues employer over death threat

A former Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services worker has filed suit against the supervisor who claims threatened to kill her.

Crystal King claims she was working as a pharmacy technician at defendant Cardinal Health Pharmacy Services in July 2009 when defendant Rehan Bashir was hired as director of the pharmacy.

From the start, King claims she began having problems with Bashir, who she alleges would reprimand her and other female employees for mistakes that her male coworkers would also make without repercussions, according to the suit.

Soon after he began working at Cardinal, Bashir also began to ask King inappropriate personal questions and to make inappropriate comments to her, according to the complaint filed Dec. 12 in Jefferson County District Court. In addition, he would get angry and blame only King for occurrences, the suit states.

The culminating event, however, that caused King to resign from her job at Cardinal occurred on Nov. 11, 2010, when Bashir accused King of performing inadequate work and threatened to kill her if she told anyone, the complaint alleges.

King reported Bashir's alleged threat to law enforcement agencies and to her supervisors at Cardinal. She was greatly disappointed, though, in her supervisors' reactions.

"On November 23, 2010, Plaintiff was informed by the human resources department that defendant Rehan Bashir had been counseled," the suit states. "She (King) was also instructed to return to work with him."

Because of Cardinal's expectation that King return to work with a boss who threatened to murder her, she decided to resign from her employment with the company, according to the complaint.

Due to Bashir's and Cardinal's actions, King claims she suffered emotional distress, lost her enjoyment of life and suffered from mental anguish. She also lost earnings and her earning capacity, the complaint says.

In her complaint, King is seeking damages within the jurisdictional limits of Jefferson County District Court and exemplary damages, plus pre-judgment interest at the maximum rate, post-judgment interest at the legal rate, costs and other relief the court deems just.

Brandon P. Monk of The Monk Law Firm in Port Arthur will be representing her.

The case has been assigned to Judge Milton Shuffield, 136th District Court.

Case No. D191-466