A former marketing director for a popular seller of washable rugs, runners and mats has tentatively settled her lawsuit alleging she was wrongfully fired in 2023 because, as a working mother, she did not fit the company’s alleged round-the-clock work culture.
Alexandra Hart’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Ruggable LLC alleged pregnancy and gender discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation. On Tuesday, Hart’s attorneys filed court papers with Judge Daniel S. Murphy notifying him of a “conditional” settlement in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by March 31.
No settlement terms were divulged. In their previous court papers, Ruggable attorneys denied many of Hart’s allegations and said multiple times that her claims were merely “legal conclusions that require no response.”
Filed in January 2025, Hart’s suit described Ruggable as a “buzzy, direct-to-consumer, venture-backed company” that in the company’s own words sells “beautiful, machine washable area rugs, runners and door mats.”
The complaint also includes a photo from the of Ruggable website of the company founder Jeneva Bell relaxing on one of the company’s washable rugs while embracing a yawning child and “projecting a family-friendly image.”
But of the some 30 leadership employees at Ruggable at the end of Hart’s tenure, all but one working mother was ultimately forced out, the suit alleged.
“Indeed, Ruggable has a pattern of demoting and terminating pregnant employees … and those with care obligations to family members, all of whom it regards as less committed because they deviate from the archetype of Ruggable’s ideal worker, someone who lives, eats and breathes work, with no outside commitment,” according to the complaint.
Hart was hired in 2018 and was promoted time and again, ultimately to a senior marketing position overseeing more than 50 employees who oversaw such areas as media production, public relations and influencer marketing, according to the suit.
However the work demand at Ruggable was so overwhelming that Hart missed health appointments and a chance to attend the World Cup, the suit stated.
Hart became pregnant in 2021, took three months of maternity leave in 2022 and returned to work later that year, taking calls even while she was off work, the suit stated.
In 2023, Hart’s work environment changed when her team was reassigned, the suit stated. Hart also was told to report to a peer who turned on her because of her young baby and her inability to commit to the around-the-clock work culture that the company demanded, the suit further stated.
The peer also placed Hart on a performance-improvement plan in which he concluded at the end that she had “not made the progress needed to move the needle forward on our brand strategy,” the suit stated.
Hart was given the option of a demotion with a $65,000 pay cut and a performance-improvement plan or to leave Ruggable, leaving the plaintiff “shocked,” the suit stated.
In October 2023, while pondering the choices, Hart was terminated and told Ruggable was making changes to the organization structure, the suit stated. The plaintiff contended that this was an excuse to cover up Ruggable’s alleged belief that women could be not be sufficiently devoted to the company while also being parents.