Associate Attorney Elias Fakhoury of The Labor Champ successfully secured a $144,500.00 settlement for our client who was wrongfully terminated by his employer.
Our client, a truck driver, was hired for an early morning shift to be able to care for his wife, who was experiencing severe health complications, in the afternoon. Despite notifying his employer of his situation, he was forced to take a later shift, which made it difficult for him to care for his wife.
In addition to the shift change, a co-worker informed our client that he was entitled to a pay increase due to the shift change – information that the employer had withheld. After raising concerns about not receiving the pay increase, he was promised the raise and back pay for the time worked without the increase.
Our client also experienced ongoing harassment from co-workers and made several complaints to his supervisor about the negative impact on his mental health. Despite these complaints, the employer failed to address the issue, perpetuating a hostile work environment
Shortly after notifying his employer about his disability and the harassment he was experiencing, our client was terminated.
Upon investigating our client’s personnel file, The Labor Champ team found a clear written notice of his disability. Despite this, the employer made no attempts to accommodate his disability or engage in an interactive process with him.
The defense argued that since our client informed only a “low-level” supervisor, his complaints were not escalated, and he had a duty to report his disability to HR himself. However, our team demonstrated that regardless of the supervisor’s level, they had a duty to report up, as a supervisor is considered the employer’s agent and is presumed to report such information to their employer (Zamora v. Security Industry Specialists, Inc., 71 Cal. App. 5th 1).
Following a pre-litigation demand, the parties attended mediation and resolved the case for $144,500.00.