Actor Rob Lowe and his wife Sheryl were countersued Wednesday by a former nanny who they sued last month on allegations that she disclosed details about her employment with them and lied about the conditions under which she worked.

Laura Boyce filed the countersuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, said her attorney, Gloria Allred, who declined to give any details of the 17-page complaint, which court officials had not processed and made available for public viewing by the end of the business day.

Allred also represents Jessica Gibson, a former Lowe family nanny who countersued her former bosses after they also accused her of breaking a confidentiality pact.

The Lowes also have sued one of their former chefs, Peter Clements, on the same grounds. The couple's suits against Gibson and Clements were filed in

Santa Barbara Superior Court.

Their complaint against Boyce, filed on April 7 in Los Angeles, alleges defamation, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress and intentional misrepresentation. They are asking for unspecified general and punitive damages.

According to the suit, Boyce worked for the Lowes during the last year as a nanny to their two sons, Matthew, 14, and John Owen, 12, and signed a confidentiality agreement like every other Lowe employee.

Boyce developed a close relationship with the Lowe family, who live in Santa Barbara County, and talked freely about her personal life with Sheryl, the suit states.

Boyce did not report to work last November, prompting the Lowes to file a missing person's report, their court papers say. They say they later learned she had "betrayed their trust and has also engaged in a scheme to hurt the Lowes by spreading malicious lies about each of them."

According to their suit, Boyce conspired with another former family employee and third parties to "damage the Lowes' reputation."

Lowe, 44, who currently stars in the ABC series "Brothers & Sisters," and his 46-year-old wife, a television and film makeup artist, have been married since July 1991.