Some days, Bonnie Smith says, she wakes up and can't move her legs.

        On other days, when she has fought back her fear of open spaces, she leaves her Reily Township house in Butler County, but only in the company of her husband, James.

        On Tuesday, she filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court accusing Fifth Third, Cincinnati's largest bank, of failing to provide adequate security in its branch offices. She also contends that the bank falls short when helping its tellers work through the trauma of a robbery.

Bonnie Smith, a former teller for Fifth Third Bank, visits the office of her attorney, Robert Newman (left), with her husband, James. (Dick Swaim photo) | ZOOM |

        “I am not the same person I was,” she says, flanked by her attorney, Robert Newman, and her husband.

        Mrs. Smith, a 49-year-old mother of two, attributes her ailments to the two times she was robbed while working at Fifth Third's Carthage branch. In each incident, she says, a gun was held to her head.

        Fifth Third officials, though, say employee and customer safety is a high priority.

        “We work really hard to make sure we're doing everything to protect our employees and out customers, ” says Fifth Third spokeswoman Robbie Jennings.

        “The first thing we do in the event of a robbery is to provide immediate on-site counselors to the scene.”

        Ms. Jennings added that Fifth Third provides an Employee Assistance Program that includes counseling for all its workers.

        But Mrs. Smith said the program isn't enough.

        She is asking for unspecified damages and hopes her lawsuit will teach Fifth Third and other banks that more needs to be done to protect employees in the wake of recent local bank heists.

        “There were times when an off-duty police officer would be stationed in the bank, and then he would be gone,” Mrs. Smith said, adding that she went on medical leave from her job Nov. 23, 1999 — about a month after she experienced the second robbery. The first took place Aug. 8, 1997.

        No bank employees or customers were injured in either incident.

        Because her medical leave lasted for only a year and she was not ready to return to work, Mrs. Smith said, she was fired. Bank officials would not discuss her employment status.

        She is now on Social Security disability.
       

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