Tonia Thomas used to be an employee at Counts Oakes Resort Properties in Lynn Haven. But that job came to an end two weeks ago in a dispute with her boss Andy Phillips over a telephone greeting for the holidays.

"Andy told me that if I don't say the Happy Holidays script as written, he would fire me," Thomas said.

Thomas says for religious reasons she couldn't say Happy Holiday when answering the company's telephone. She wanted to say Merry Christmas.

Andy Phillips, the company's President said what is being reported in the media is false and said he fired Thomas for different reasons.

"We have a situation with a disgruntled employee who was terminated for insubordination and gross misconduct. She was not terminated and I want to make that very clear, she was not terminated for saying Merry Christmas," Phillips said.

Phillips says the greeting his employees are supposed to say changed after Thanksgiving and he felt the need not to single out any other holiday this time of the year.

"But there's also Hanukkah and we want to make sure we put a script in place that was not offensive to someone who did not celebrate Christmas," Phillips said.

Thomas says her personnel file is spotless and still can't believe she was fired.

Since then, she has contacted Liberty Counsel, a legal representation firm based in Orlando. She says she is filing suit against her former employer for lost wages.

"They have sent notice to the company to Counts that they were taking the case and we basically sent a demand letter over," Thomas said.

Thomas did find another job and says she is thankful.

"Although I felt like I was standing alone when I was fighting this, I knew that God was beside me and that he led me to this job," Thomas said.

Phillips did not reveal any specifics about the firing of Thomas, but he did say it will come out when the lawsuit proceeds.