NEW YORK (Legal Newsline)-Rachael Ray's daytime cooking show faces a $1 million lawsuit from a former employee who claims that he was forced to leave his job because he suffered from an eating disorder.
Aaron Ferguson, an accountant, filed the lawsuit in Manhattan's Supreme Court against the Rachael Ray Show for discrimination.
He alleged that his immediate supervisor taunted him, making "vile, discriminatory and hurtful comments" that led to him quitting his job.
In court papers, Ferguson said he suffered from anorexia for about six years.
The lawsuit claims that the woman told Ferguson that "Anorexics are sick in the head," and "Anorexics should not be able to work."
The lawsuit names CBS Corp., CBSTD Inc., and three individual employees of the Emmy award-winning show as defendants. Rachael Ray was not named in the lawsuit.
Ferguson said he began working in July 2007 for CBS Television Distributions Inc., a CBS Corp. unit and the producer of the Rachael Ray show.
He said after four months of service he was forced out of his job in October after he complained of his supervisor's treatment.
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo by e-mail at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.