A former employee of a Hollywood adult care center has settled her lawsuit against the facility in which she alleged she was wrongfully laid off in 2020 “for the sole purpose of getting rid of an assertive Ukrainian Jewish woman.”
On Thursday, attorneys filed court papers with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara M. Scheper notifying her that plaintiff Aleksandra Rozenberg’s amended lawsuit was resolved. No terms were divulged.
Rozenberg originally sued in March 2022 and her most recently revised complaint was brought April 24 of this year. Her causes of action included harassment and discrimination based on national ancestry as well as various state Labor Code violations.
Also sued were Jeffrey Vallandingham and Slava Cojocari, identified in the suit as the center’s owner-operator and the director of nursing.
In their previous court papers, defense attorneys denied any wrongdoing on the part of their clients, saying the center, like so many other businesses, was economically impacted by the coronavirus in March 2020.
“Unfortunately, such impact required Arcadia to temporarily shut down and eventually downsize and restructure its operations and, as a result, plaintiff was terminated from her employment,” the defense attorneys stated in their court papers.
Rozenberg was hired to care for patients in 2007 and Vallandingham told her she would be treated fairly, that her job seniority would be honored and that speaking Spanish was not a requirement, the suit stated.
Cojocari, a Russian male, harassed Rozenberg and created a hostile work environment because she is Jewish, Ukrainian and older than 40, according to the suit, which also alleged Cojocari told her that she belonged to an “inferior race/religion and nationality.”
Cojocari supported fascism, totalitarianism, war, the violent overthrow of governments, the superiority of his native “Christian” country and its president, Vladimir Putin, the suit stated.
“When plaintiff protested and asked him to stop, (Cojocari) refused,” the suit stated.
When Rozenberg was laid off in March 2020, Vallandingham told her it was due to the pandemic, but he also said she would be recalled “as soon as possible,” the suit stated.
However, Rozenberg has not been rehired despite her requests to this day to have her job back, the suit stated. Vallandingham told her she was not brought back because she does not speak Spanish, the suit stated.
In reality, Rozenberg was laid off “for the sole purpose of getting rid of an assertive Ukrainian Jewish woman,” who due to her age, religion, ethnicity and national origin was perceived as “inferior, too aggressive and not as controllable as younger women…,” the suit stated.
Rozenberg also alleged she was denied uninterrupted rest and meal periods during her eight-hour day and that she has suffered physical injury and extreme distress because of the way she was treated by her former employer.