A former facilities manager for the YMCA San Gabriel Valley has reached a tentative settlement in his lawsuit against the nonprofit in which he alleged he was retaliated against and later terminated for complaining about safety and discrimination issues.
Attorneys for Robert Salvador Duran filed court papers Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Broadbelt notifying him of a “conditional” resolution of the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by March 28.
No terms were divulged.
In their previous court papers, attorneys for the Covina facility denied Duran’s allegations and cited multiple defenses, including that the plaintiff was provided with all accommodations necessary and that giving him anything more would have been an “undue hardship” on the YMCA.
Duran was hired in April 2022 as a facilities manager and later learned the building lacked a fire monitoring system, so he told the operations director and began soliciting beds for vendors, the suit states.
Three months later, the YMCA decided to rent out its facilities to third parties, but Duran expressed concern to management because the lessees lacked a business license to operate in Covina and the fire protections systems had not yet been put in, according to the suit.
In retaliation, a supervisor reneged after initially granting him a scheduled change to accommodate him for being a single father, even though other employees were given such consideration, the suit states. The boss asked Duran if someone else could watch the plaintiff’s daughters, according to the suit.
“Plaintiff felt that he was being specifically targeted,” the suit stated.
The supervisor also denied Duran’s request to have his service dog at work, the suit states.
Duran was put on administrative leave in April 2023 and the alleged retaliation continued when he returned two months later and was given poor job review, the suit states.
Duran was terminated in January 2024 and management said it was because of budget cuts and his experience level, according to his suit.