Call center worker sues firm, guard for shooting

A CALL center employee filed a P4.1- million damage suit in court against his employer, a security agency and a security guard who accidentally shot him with his service firearm four years ago.

Joseph Raymond Carmona, a resident of barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City, is seeking P4 million in damages and P100,000 for litigation expenses and attorney’s fees.

He asked the Regional Trial Court Branch 7 to order Convergys, the security agency and security guard Jerry Tindugan to pay the damages.

Carmona was accompanied by his wife Rapunzel in filing the complaint.

According to the complaint, Carmona was working in the office on Nov. 18, 2007, when the guard accidentally fired off his rifle.

Carmona was shot in the left leg.

He said he underwent four major surgeries and was hospitalized three times.

He said at present, he still experiences numbness and pain while driving and a recurring sharp pain while doing simple physical activities.

Carmona said Tindugan, whose name is not on the list of the approved security guards of the Philipine National Police, should be liable for negligence.

Carmona’s lawyers also said the call center company failed to ensure a safe workplace, didn’t render prompt medical assistance or penalize the security guard.

They said demands to indemnify Carmona were made but the call center firm didn’t heed his request.

“The extent of the injury is so grave that despite the medical interventions and the four major operations conducted on plaintiff, no less than 73 bullet fragments remained embedded in plaintiff’s system,” Carmona said in his complaint. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol