Hero of 1987 Sues After She Loses Job

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The New York Sun

At age 14, Tracey Attis lost her parents and two younger sisters in a 1987 fire at their home.

She suffered burns over more than half her body after running back into the blazing Nassau County house to rescue her 11-year-old brother, Terence McSwigin Jr. Then, last June, Ms. Attis lost McSwigin when he died of a heart attack.

The death triggered traumatic memories, prompting Ms. Attis to seek psychiatric care. She said her employer, a Manhattan realty and development company, told her to take all the time she needed to get well.

But two days into a stay at a mental health care facility, she said, she received a call from her employer, Solow Realty & Development Co., telling her she was fired.

Yesterday, Ms. Attis, 33, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s district office in Manhattan, alleging the company illegally fired her as she struggled with mental health issues.

A spokesman for Solow Realty, Michael Gross, said the company had “great sympathy” for Ms. Attis, but said they did everything they could to help her, a company statement said.

Ms. Attis, a single mother of a 6-year-old girl, said she has put their Croton-on-Hudson home up for sale because she can no longer afford the mortgage payments.

“I don’t have a family to fall back on,” she said.


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