A former sales clerk for the Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club, who alleged she was fired in 2017 for reporting the sexual harassment of a co-worker by the club’s president, has reached a settlement in her lawsuit against her former employer, according to court documents obtained Monday.
Belen Navarro-Arriola’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleged retaliation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Club president Estevan Estrada also was named a defendant in the case, which was filed in November 2017.
The plaintiff’s lawyers filed a notice of settlement on Dec. 31 with Judge Elizabeth Feffer. No terms were divulged.
Navarro-Arriola said she began working for the club in September 2012, making $13.29 an hour, and in 2017 worked on the annual Baker to Vegas event, in which law enforcement members take part in a run from Baker to Las Vegas. While in Las Vegas, a fellow employee of the plaintiff told her that she was “touched on the butt and hips” by Estrada as she was leaving the restroom, according to the lawsuit.
A month later, Navarro-Arriola alleged that she overheard Estrada tell the club’s gun store manager, “I am going to fire anyone who opens their mouth about the Vegas incident.” Three days later, the gun store manager texted the plaintiff and told her that Estrada said, “I am not going to stop until I fire the person that said this about me,” according to the suit.
The next day, according to her complaint, Navarro-Arriola wrote a letter she titled “Fear of losing my job,” in which she stated she was aware Estrada was being investigated about the alleged harassment, that she heard him threaten to fire anyone who complained and that the plaintiff feared she would be retaliated against for reporting the alleged sexual harassment of a co-worker.
Navarro-Arriola gave the letter to club board member Ruben Holguin and asked him to keep it in a safe location in case she was “fired for speaking the truth,” the suit stated.
In May 2017, Navarro-Arriola says she was picked to work on the club’s annual memorial run honoring fallen LAPD officers. Four days before the event, Estrada used derogatory language about the plaintiff as he asked the event organizer, Danny Roman, if she was working on the event, the suit alleged.
Navarro-Arriola, who heard the conversation between Estrada and Roman, reported Estrada’s alleged inappropriate comments about her to the club’s human resources manager, who told her she should not complain because she was “on thin ice” with her employer, according to her court papers.
Navarro-Arriola was fired in June 2017.
“The retaliation that caused the defendants to simply dispose of plaintiff after five years of excellent performance caused the plaintiff great concern, disgrace and severe emotional distress…,” according to her lawsuit.