Cross Country Staffing’s former President Vickie Anenberg said in a new lawsuit she was fired following an incident of improper touching by a fellow executive and after she raised concerns over the company’s presenting of strike revenue. Cross Country in a statement said the claims are without merit.

Anenberg, who joined the company in 1990, was fired Jan. 25, according to the lawsuit filed last week in Palm Beach County, Fla.

She oversaw Cross Country Staffing, the largest division of Cross Country Healthcare in terms of revenue.

The lawsuit alleges William Burns caused the company to fire her after she spurned his advances at a December 2015 Christmas party and because she raised concerns about how the company characterized revenue in 2016 from staffing a hospital strike and allegedly used the acquisition of healthcare staffing firm Advantage RN to muddy the financial waters. Burns was CFO at the time, but is now COO.

Burns was motivated to have Anenberg fired out of spite to “avenge his wounded pride at plaintiff’s rejection of his inappropriate sexual advances,” and to silence a voice of criticism that Burns was reaping a financial reward at the expense of shareholders, according to the complaint.

In a statement, Cross Country said the claims have been investigated and are without merit.

“At Cross Country Healthcare, we believe in conducting ourselves with the highest degree of ethics and integrity,” according to the statement. “We take any and all allegations of inappropriate behavior seriously and do not tolerate such conduct. This matter has been investigated and we believe the claims are baseless and completely without merit. We will vigorously defend this matter.”

The complaint in the lawsuit, which details the plaintiff’s side, includes several allegations.

It starts with an incident during the December 2015 Christmas party, which took place at Burns’ home, when the inappropriate touching allegedly took place.

Anenberg removed herself from the situation, but Burns kept following her at the event, according to the complaint. She took note of what happened but did not feel the issue warranted reporting to HR at the time. However, the relationship between Anenberg and Burns deteriorated and contentiousness grew.

Then Anenberg’s criticism over strike revenue led to further difficulties, according to the lawsuit.

The company agreed to provide staffing during a strike called by the Minnesota Nurses Association against Allina Health in 2016, according to the suit, for which it ultimately generated $22.5 million in revenue. Anenberg’s suit says investors don’t like nonrecurring revenue such as strike revenue because it distorts a firm’s financial picture. And the lawsuit alleges the company called the strike revenue “project revenue” to disguise where the money was generated.

Cross Country then used its acquisition of Advantage RN, which closed in June 2017, to help hide the strike revenue, according to the complaint. Anenberg argued against the acquisition of Advantage RN. The suit says the company was represented as having a revenue stream of $100 million, but claims Cross Country knew the amount would be far less.

Ultimately, Anenberg was called into the office of President and CEO William Grubbs on Jan. 25, 2018, where she was told that Burns was being promoted to COO and she was being terminated, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Florida Whistleblower Act, tortious interference and battery.