Nuked Self-Help guru had been researching coronavirus treatments and decided pressure from ventilators could damage the lungs. The self-help guru asked a physician friend to call the hospital and convince the woman’s doctors to lower the pressure.
Since the early days of the pandemic, he’d been suspicious of the hysteria surrounding covid-19. He also hosted two events amid the crisis.
Two small, private in-person meetings were held in compliance with federal, state and local regulations and guidance regarding covid-19.
As a coach, Robbins always taught people that they had the ability to change their lives – not their wives or their pastors or their priests. The story underlined his own heroism in saving her life.
Debbie Kosta, the employee in question, is suing Robbins and his company, Robbins research international. She says he lied about his part in her recovery and made it nearly impossible for her to return to work.
The complaint alleges Tony Robbins’ organization refused to let Kosta return to work part-time while she was recovering from a recent cancer diagnosis.
Ms. Kosta had contracted covid-19 and was hospitalized. The organization continued to pay the complete cost of her medical insurance.
Kosta had been an employee of Robbins’ for 18 years when the pandemic arrived. She’d started working for him in Europe, then moved to New York and joined the sales team in the United States.
Sales reps at RRI sold tickets to Robbins’ live events. The world-famous coach taught people to eliminate pain’for good’. Tickets cost between $ 600 and $ 3,000.
Some of Robbins’ clients were dealing with major life issues. They were drug addicts, alcoholics, or philanderers. To them, Robbins’ philosophy of self-empowerment was entirely new.
Kosta was n’t like that, but she did n’t worship him like others seemed to. She just wanted to help people change their lives.
An anonymous employee who worked on the sales team said they regularly made $ 80,000 a year in bonuses alone. Kosta liked the hustle and was willing to skip holidays if it meant succeeding at work.
Over the next nine years, Kosta made a life for herself and her two young daughters in New York City. She was able to send them to a good prep school in Manhattan and take them to Europe in the summers. The real money went to Tony Robbins, who called her to congratulate her on how much business she was bringing in.
‘unleash the power within’ was a four-day seminar that taught people to’unlock and unleash the forces inside you to break through your limitations and take control of your life’.
Less than a week before the event, sales team was forced to cancel. The sales team had a brutal policy that meant each refund came out of employees’ commissions.
In March, Robbins offered employees a stipend of roughly $ 5,000 a month. The following month, in April, the federal government received a paycheck protection program (PPP) loan.
Robbins’ spokesperson:’properly and legally applied and received PPP support’. Robbins:’has used those funds in compliance with the program’s rules’.
Kosta developed a high fever and was having a difficult time breathing. Her daughter Stella, a 19-year-old film student at Hunter College, decided to call an ambulance on April 12th. Kosta’s fever had been hovering at 104 for three days.
Doctors put Kosta on a ventilator, then in a medically induced coma. He called Stella to see how her mother was doing was doing. This is where Robbins’ telling of the story diverges from the truth.
The complaint alleges that sage Robbins, Tony’s wife, called Stella to’pry information from her regarding her condition’. Kosta’s attorney, Chris Albanese, of the employment law firm white, hilferty and Albanese, says:’what kind of person would do that?’.
Robbins’ spokesperson says the’allegations concerning RRI, Mr. Robbins and his wife, are false’. Robbins spokesperson:”the allegations… are false”.
Kosta stayed in a coma until early May. Doctors discovered a growth on her chest. Doctors said she’d likely need six months to fully recover.
Kosta was on New York state paid family leave but it was set to run out at the end of June. She still needed surgery to remove the growth.
If she did n’t return in July, she’d lose her health insurance. She emailed HR to see if she could have more time off.
Debbie Kosta was at the peak of her sales career when she contracted coronavirus. She was left without reasonable accommodation for her disability. The company claims to lift up, not break down, the human spirit.
Kosta’s request to reduce her hours was a reasonable accommodation, she says. The equal employment opportunity commission filed a complaint ahead of its filing in federal court in New York City. The complaint says that the refusal to grant it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Robbins had been walking a thin line between covid-19 skepticism and denial. He did n’t doubt that the disease existed, but he hinted that the news coverage surrounding the death rate was exaggerated. In August 2020, he started promoting a coronavirus vaccine on Facebook.
Mr. Robbins has invested in one of several companies working on the development of an effective covid vaccine, says spokesperson Jennifer Connelly.
