A former “Bar Rescue” supervising culinary producer has dropped his lawsuit against the production companies behind the show in which he alleged he was fired in 2024 in retaliation for reporting unprofessional conduct by a manager.
The defendants in plaintiff Haig Jabourian’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit are Bongo LLC, 3 Ball Productions LLC and Ball Productions LLC. Jabourian alleged that despite his “untarnished employment record … a clear pattern of hostility and retaliation began against plaintiff promptly upon his complaints of a hostile work environment.”
On Oct. 22, Jabourian’s lawyers filed court papers with Judge Tiana J. Murillo asking that his case be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not state if Jabourian settled the case or if he is not pursuing it for other reasons. The production companies had filed a countersuit against Jabourian for allegedly refusing to return more than $3,100 in petty cash belonging to the defendants.
“Bar Rescue” is a reality series on the Paramount Network in which Jonathan Taffer, a food and beverage industry consultant, offers his professional expertise, renovations and equipment to troubled bars in an effort to keep them open.
In his suit, Jabourian, now 35, stated that he saw the show’s production manager display “blatantly inappropriate, aggressive and hostile behavior” toward Jabourian’s associate producer in his department in November 2023.
Jabourian approached the production manager about what he witnessed, but after the manager became hostile, the plaintiff then consulted with the show’s managing agent, a friend of the production manager, the suit filed in October 2024 stated.
However, the managing agent and production manager “engaged in a scheme to brush plaintiff’s complaints under the rug and fabricate issues regarding Jabourian’s job performance to detract from his complaints, the suit alleged.
Jabourian was under the impression that the production manager either felt his relationship with the managing agent gave him “carte blanche authority” to harass whomever he wanted or that the managing agent made the production manager believe he had such authority, according to the suit.
When the managing agent told Jabourian to schedule a meeting with human resources, the plaintiff believed it was to address his work environment complaints, the suit stated. Instead, a human resources representative told Jabourian that the session was called to address gripes against the plaintiff, according to the suit.
“Moreover, it had become clear that there was a specific and targeted campaign … to retaliate against plaintiff for his complaints,” according to the suit, which further alleged that someone shut off the gas and water while Jabourian and his team were working “in a clear attempt” to make them fall behind.
Jabourian filed a complaint about his work environment with human resources last December, but the hostility continued and he was warned about possible termination, the suit stated. In June 2024, the managing agent called the plaintiff and told him that he was being fired for an alleged inappropriate outburst in front of others, including cast members, the suit stated.
Jabourian denied an outburst occurred and said he suffered financial losses and emotional distress after losing his job.