Ex-Whole Foods Worker Says He Was Fired Over Spider Bite Trauma

PARAMUS, NJ – A former Whole Foods employee at the supermarket chain’s Paramus location claims he was fired due to his anxiety after a spider that was inside of a produce crate bit him in the arm.

In a lawsuit filed Aug. 16 in Bergen County Superior Court, Richard Highsmith sued the company for disability discrimination and is seeking loss of wages, lost employment benefits, compensatory damages for emotional distress, punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

The incident occurred on Aug. 5, 2017, when Highsmith was bitten by a “venomous Black Widow spider” working, according to the lawsuit.

“The venom was so potent that it progressed and caused temporary paralysis” to his arm and required hospitalization, the suit said.

After the incident, the Hackensack resident was out of work for a month, and during that time he had “various hospital stints followed by hand therapy,” according to the complaint.

He was cleared to return to work on Sept. 12,2017, but began experiencing “debilitating anxiety and panic attacks” associated with encountering another Black Widow spider in the produce cooler, the lawsuit said.

Highsmith said made requests to be moved to another department in order to accommodate his disability in accordance to the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD).

He said he never received responses to the two requests he made to his manager, however on Sept. 22, 2017 Highsmith received a termination letter, which said he was fired because he stopped coming to work, the lawsuit said.

Highsmith "clearly expressed a desire to return to work, seeking reasonable accommodations that would have enabled him to return to work. Whole Foods had available positions that Plaintiff could have performed. Whole Foods simply refused to respond to Plaintiff, and then terminated him, claiming job abandonment,” the lawsuit said.

Although, Highsmith initially filed the suit in county court, the case was moved to federal court Friday.

Whole Foods has not responded to a request for comment Monday afternoon.