Life Alert accused of sexual harassment in ex-worker’s lawsuit

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – The maker of Life Alert, known for its television ad slogan “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up,” has been sued by a former sales manager who claims he was fired because of his age and cancer diagnosis, and his complaints about “rampant” sexual harassment in the company’s Manhattan office. In a $7 million lawsuit filed on Wednesday in the New York state court in Manhattan, Leon Hayblum claimed that Life Alert Emergency Response Inc illegally terminated him without warning last Nov. 10, when he was 71, after a dozen years on the job. Hayblum said this was done in retaliation for his “years” of complaints about the alleged harassment and Life Alert’s alleged misclassification of sales staff as independent contractors, and because he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Life Alert is based in Encino, California, and sells wearable devices intended to help elderly or disabled people call for assistance when they face medical or other emergencies.
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