Four former Walnut warehouse workers who fell ill with the coronavirus and quarantined at home have tentatively settled their lawsuit against an employment staffing agency that alleged they were wrongfully not allowed to return to work when healthy.
Angelica Avila, Angelica Loza, Sergio Gonzalez and Bryan Gonzalez brought the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Workforce Personnel Inc. alleging wrongful termination, disability discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress and retaliation. They also sued their assigned workplace, Port Logistics Group Inc., but later dismissed the firm as a defendant.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys filed court papers on Wednesday with Judge Kevin C. Brazile notifying him of a “conditional” settlement of the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by Feb. 1. No terms were divulged.
In his court papers, a Workforce Personnel attorney denied any liability on the company’s part and stated that the plaintiffs “consented, expressly and impliedly,” to the conduct over which they sued.
Avila and Loza were hired by Workforce in November 2019, both as scanners and packers, while the staffing company employed Sergio Gonzalez in November 2018 and Bryan Gonzalez in June 2019, both as drivers, the suit stated.
All four plaintiffs were assigned to the Port Logistics warehouse on Cheryl Lane warehouse as Juan Gonzalez, the husband of Avila, the son of Loza and Sergio Gonzalez and the brother of Bryan Gonzalez, according to the suit brought in June 2021.
In November 2020, Juan Gonzalez, who is not a plaintiff, made several complaints regarding the alleged lack of COVID-19 safety precautions in place at the warehouse and told supervisors at a staff meeting that machinery and workstations were not being sanitized between the morning and afternoon shifts, the suit stated.
Juan Gonzalez also told his bosses that personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks and hand sanitizer was not being provided to the warehouse employees, forcing workers to have to buy their own, the suit stated.
“Although Juan Gonzalez raised these complaints, nothing was done,” the suit stated.
But warehouse workers began to test positive for the coronavirus as the plaintiffs saw their co-workers show up to work with fevers, coughs, shortness of breath, fatigue, body aches, sore throat and headaches, the suit stated.
By mid-December, the plaintiffs began feeling ill and they — as well as Juan Gonzalez — subsequently tested positive for the virus while eventually suffering significant symptoms for several weeks, the suit stated.
The plaintiffs were given two weeks pay during their quarantine period, the suit stated. However, they and Juan Gonzalez told their supervisors in January that by that time, they had tested negative and could return to work, but management never respond and did not allow them to resume their duties, the suit alleged.
“Given the circumstances, it is clear that the true and unlawful reason for plaintiffs’ termination was … the complaints of health and safety in the workplace raised by their family member, Juan Gonzalez, and retaliation for their contraction of the COVID-19 virus and relationship to Juan Gonzalez for his protesting an unsafe work environment,” the suit stated.