Dr. Phil Hit With Lawsuit by Former Employee: Staff Locked in Room For Leaking Information?

Daytime talk show host Dr. Phil is facing legal troubles from a disgruntled former employee who's claiming the TV doctor went too far when he locked his employees in a room, keeping them hostage until someone fessed up to leaking confidential information to the media.

TMZ reported the talk show host Phil McGraw, more commonly known as Dr. Phil; also the title of his CBS daytime talk show, called an urgent meeting for 300 of his employees, including one, Leah Rothman, the woman who is now suing him. According to the site, Rothman is citing that on her day off, Dr. Phil ordered her to come into work to be present for the meeting that focused on who leaked "internal info" to the media.

Rothman describes the meeting as a hostage situation where security guards were present. The doors were locked, keeping the employees from exiting the room, while McGraw grilled them. Reportedly, he used profanity during the meeting and gave a threatening statements to the room like, "If you f*ck with me, I'll f*ck with you."

Reportedly, the internal information spoken about during the meeting was transferred over state lines, which resulted in getting the Feds involved. Rothman claims that since the meeting occurred she has suffered from emotional distress, she's been nervous and utlimately felt so uncomfortable at her workplace that she resigned. She is citing that the entire ordeal was "constructive termination," and McGraw not only knew that he was frightening his employees, but he enjoyed it. According to TMZ, Rothman was later told by the Executive in Charge of Production "[Phil] got joy out of the process and in scaring his employees."

Rothman reportedly quit the job back in April of 2015, according to People, after working for McGraw since 2003.

Tags

Dr. Phil