A judge has issued a mixed ruling in a motion by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and St. Anthony High School in Long Beach challenging claims in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleges he was wrongfully fired as director of admissions.
Aaron Bryant also contends in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that his female supervisor openly favored replacing him with a woman. On July 15, Judge Randolph M. Hammock reviewed the case before taking it under submission and ruling on Thursday, striking Bryant’s claims for punitive damages and dismissing his cause of action for unreimbursed business expenses.
The judge also ruled that Bryant will have to provide more details supporting his claims for gender harassment, disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process and one of his retaliation claims.
But Hammock said Bryant can proceed with another of his causes of action for retaliation as well as his wrongful termination allegation.
Defense lawyers contended that none of Bryant’s nine causes of action were sufficiently explained. The St. Anthony’s High School Foundation ceased operations and dissolved prior to Bryant’s employment and therefore could not have employed the plaintiff, according to the defense attorneys’ court papers.
“Plaintiff seeks to impose liability on religious entities that are expressly exempt from (the Federal Employment and Housing Act) and on a nonprofit corporation that ceased operations years before plaintiff’s employment began,” the defense lawyers wrote in their pleadings.
According to Bryant’s lawsuit, he was hired in August 2022 and contends his supervisor complained that the position he held would be better served by a woman. He was once assigned to perform manual labor on campus with the facilities manager, a task unrelated to his job duties, the suit further states.
Bryant, believing the labor job was punitive and retaliatory, documented it as an alleged example of targeted and inappropriate treatment.
After his supervisor called him “weak” during an April 2024 conversation that left Bryant feeling degraded, the plaintiff complained to the principal, who did not investigate or provide guidance, according to the suit, which further states Bryant similarly got no satisfaction after reaching out to the archdiocese’s regional superintendent.
That same month, Bryant’s supervisor told him he was too focused on enrollment and added, “You would understand if you were a woman,” the suit states. Bryant considered the comments “demeaning” and “gender-based” and that they were irrelevant to his responsibilities as admissions director, the suit filed last Oct. 2 further states.
In another confrontation, Bryant’s supervisor told him in March 2025, “I am going to make your life hell until you quit. Men have no business in this type of role,” according to the suit, which also states that later in March, Bryant’s doctor placed him on an anxiety-related medical leave through April 30, 2025.
Bryant returned to work, but was fired in May 2025 without cause, resulting in lost wages, damage to his reputation and severe emotional distress and embarrassment, the suit states.