Former employee sues Ashley Madison after injuries allegedly sustained on the job

Nov 11, 2013 | News

Ashley Madison being sued by former employee

Ashley Madison being sued by a former employee, for injuries she says she sustained on the job.

By Faiza Amin

A former employee’s lawsuit against an online dating service for married people seeking affairs, has gone viral.

Doriana Silva, is seeking $20 million in damages from Toronto-based dating-service Ashley Madison, because she says she injured her wrists after typing 1000 fake profiles for the website.

Silva was hired by Ashley Madison to help launch the company’s Portuguese version of the site. The Brazilian immigrant said she was given three weeks to create fake profiles to lure men to the company’s site. Silva, who lives in Toronto, says she was promised a starting salary of $34,000 as well as benefits.

In an email statement released to Humber News, Paul Dollak, Silva’s lawyer said his client wasn’t compensated for her injuries.

“My client could not get workers’ compensation because her work for Ashley Madison was not part of the Worker’s Compensation regimen,“ Dollak told Humber News. “She had to seek compensation from the Ashley Madison companies directly if she was going to get compensated from anybody for her injuries.”

In an official statement emailed to Humber News, Avid Life Media, Ashley Madison’s parent company, said the allegations are without merit.

“We consider this to be a frivolous claim brought by an opportunistic plaintiff,” the statement read.

Paul Keable, Vice President of Communications at Avid Life Media, told Humber News that Ashley Madison was cooperative in treating Silva’s claims.

“We were working with her fully,” Keable told Humber News in a phone interview. “We were more than happy to work with her and ensure she was getting treated for what we thought was a strain.”

As a result of her wrist injury, Silva says she hasn’t been able to work since July 2011

Along with the statement, Avid Life Media also sent Humber News photographs of what they claimed was Silva vacationing after her injury.

Dollak said his client is alarmed that the company gained access to photos on her Facebook account.

“Facebook pictures aren’t a recognized method of presenting medical records in the courts,” Dollack told Humber News in a phone interview. “Those photos of her taken long after she stopped working at Ashley Madison, are without any context and without her permission.”

Ashley Madison said Silva threatened to go to the media with her story, a claim Silva denies. Dollak said the only reason the media found the site was because it was published online.

“This story found its way into the press because of a publicly released court decision by Justice Morgan of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario,” Dollak said.

On Oct. 24, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan, dismissed an appeal from Ashley Madison, who petitioned the court room to remove ‘ethics’ and ‘unethical practices’ part of Silva’s statements.

There has yet to be a date set for trial.