A judge has ordered binding arbitration of the claims of a former Automobile Club of Southern California employee who alleges he was wrongfully fired in 2025 on a false allegation that a marijuana product was found in his desk while he was on medical leave.
Nicholas Amaya’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges general retaliation, retaliation for taking family leave, discrimination, harassment and retaliation and wrongful termination. On Feb. 5, Judge Virginia Keeny signed an arbitration order after both sides agreed to take the case out of the hands of a jury.
The judge scheduled a post-arbitration status conference for Nov. 18. An ACSA spokesman said previously that the company does not comment on pending litigation.
Amaya was hired as an insurance specialist at an ASCA office in Los Angeles in June 2022. He developed a serious health condition two years later that he says made it necessary for him to take time off under the California Family Rights Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. He further says he was given approval to take time off from July to October, 2024.
Immediately, Amaya’s manager showed his reaction to the leave by becoming hostile, including by writing “RIP” next to the plaintiff’s name on a public sales whiteboard in the office, the suit states. The manager’s action was seen by an Amaya co-worker who photographed it, the suit further states.
The manager began using texts to pressure Amaya to return and even mentioned a company trip qualification to try and encourage him to come back, according to the suit, which further states that another Amaya co-worker saw the manager going through the plaintiff’s desk drawer.
Amaya’s medical needs required his leave to be extended until March 2025, and when he returned ready and able to work, the manager ignored him for hours before he was called into a conference room for a call with human resources, where he was accused of keeping a marijuana product in his desk, the suit states.
“Plaintiff was shocked by the accusation and immediately and unequivocally denied that the item belonged to him,” the suit states.
Amaya believed the notion that management claimed to “find” the cannabis item in his desk while he was out of the office for nine months was “particularly convenient,” but his denial was disbelieved and he was suspended pending an investigation, the suit states.
Amaya was “unceremoniously escorted … from the building in front of his colleagues just hours after he had returned from his nearly eight-month protected leave,” the suit filed Nov. 7 states.
Amaya believes that the manager was openly bragging to others in the office that he was glad to have “gotten rid of” the plaintiff while he was on suspension, and Amaya was terminated last March 20 for a “disregard of club standards,” which he contends was an unjustified excuse and that the action was done in retaliation for his taking medical leave, according to the suit.