www.tmz.com- According to court docs filed [Friday], the Bryants fully acknowledge Maria Jimenez’s right to battle them in court — although they say her claims of abuse are “without merit.” What the Bryants are really concerned with is the confidentiality agreement they claim Jimenez signed when she was hired in 2007 — which prevents her from talking to the press and other third parties.

The Bryants feel, according to the docs, that Jimenez’s press tour following her lawsuit is in violation of that agreement.

Jimenez is suing the Bryants, specifically claiming Vanessa was incredibly abusive — even demanding that she put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve a tag from her blouse

They are all due back in court in July.

back story, March 25, 2009: Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa are being sued by their former housekeeper, who claims Vanessa was incredibly abusive — even demanding that she put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve a tag from her blouse … so Vanessa could deduct the cost of the blouse from the maid’s salary!

Maria Jimenez claims Vanessa called her “lazy, slow, dumb, a f—ing liar, and f—ing sh-t.”

In the lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Orange County, Jimenez claims Vanessa accused her of stealing her (mouth) retainer.

Jimenez says it got so bad — Vanessa allegedly “badgered, harassed and humiliated Maria by yelling and screaming at Maria and criticizing her in front of Kobe, the Bryants’ children, employees and other people in the household” — she threatened to quit but Kobe talked her out of it.

The final straw: Vanessa went nuclear because Maria put an expensive blouse in the washer. Vanessa demanded that Maria put her hand in a bag of dog feces to retrieve the price tag for the blouse.

Maria says she wanted to quit and Vanessa responded that she “had to work until payday to pay for the $690 blouse, which she did.”

Maria is suing for wrongful discharge, invasion of privacy and emotional distress and unpaid wages.

Back story March,9, 2009: Kobe and Vanessa Bryant are striking back at the maid who accused Vanessa of various abuse on the job — including an alleged incident where the maid was forced to stick her hand into a bag of dog crap.

The Bryant’s lawyers, Loeb & Loeb LLP, just released the following statement on behalf of the couple:

We have learned that a former employee of the Bryants, Maria Jimenez, has filed a complaint against our clients. Ms. Jimenez’s outrageous allegations of improper conduct are totally unfounded and patently false. The Bryants intend to vigorously defend against these untruthful allegations and are confident that the baseless nature of the allegations will be proven.