A 51-year-old man has tentatively settled his wrongful termination/age and disability discrimination suit against Walmart Associates Inc. in which he also contended unsafe work conditions caused him to be injured by a falling sardine can and to receive an electrical shock from faulty machinery.
Bryan Petta alleged in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that he was subjected to disparate treatment due to his age and disabilities. He also contended that his boss constantly told him he was doing things wrong, yet didn’t offer training that was tendered to younger workers.
Petta’s lawyers filed court papers on Wednesday with Judge Joseph Lipner notifying him of a “conditional” accord in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be brought by July 3. No terms were divulged.
In their previous court papers, Walmart attorneys denied Petta’s allegations and said that any actions management took toward Petta were due to “legitimate business-related reasons which were neither arbitrary, capricious, nor unlawful.”
In his lawsuit filed last May 14, Petta said he was hired in March 2022 as a team lead and that he was later classified as an associate. A month after Petta was hired, the store’s assistant manager “repeatedly berated Petta for any mistakes he made while completely ignoring similar errors from younger employees,” according to the suit.
Petta found the assistant manager’s alleged attitude “particularly troubling as Petta had not been provided with proper training or support from management or his colleagues and instead of being given guidance, he was met with “dismissive and condescending remarks such as, `You’re doing this wrong,”’ according to the suit.
The hostility escalated when the assistant store manager allegedly began threatening Petta’s job security, telling him, “You have one more day. If you can’t do it, we are going to terminate you,” the suit alleged.
The same threats were not made to younger workers, the suit further stated.
Petta also was exposed to unsafe working conditions, including in December 2022 when, while unloading a trailer, he was struck on the head by a falling can of sardines, the suit stated. Petta alleged that the accident occurred due to poor lighting inside the trailer, which prevented the plaintiff from seeing the hazard.
Petta also received an electrical shock a month later from faulty machinery, he contended. He was on medical leave for an unrelated injury to his left shoulder when he was terminated in September 2023, according to the suit.