A woman has reached a tentative settlement in her lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in which she alleged she was suspended and fired a day later for complaining about what she believed to be inappropriate conduct by a vice principal toward some students.
Ashley Guereque’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed Friday also named as defendants St. Gregory the Great School in Whittier. The suit alleged wrongful termination and a violation of the state Labor Code. On Tuesday, Guereque’s attorney filed court papers with Judge Wendy Chang notifying him of a “conditional” resolution in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by Nov. 30. No terms were divulged.
In their court papers, attorneys for the archdiocese and the school denied Guereque’s allegations, stated they were barred by the statute of limitations and that any actions taken by their clients regarding Guereque were done so for legitimate purposes.
Guereque, now 32, was hired as an instructional assistant in August 2023 and her job included making copies of course materials, supervising students during their lunch and recess and distributing papers, the suit stated. During her employment, Guereque allegedly became concerned about the conduct of a vice principal in her interactions with students.
In one instance, the vice principal, standing nearly six-feet tall, towered over a kindergarten student whom she pushed into a room, the suit stated. Guereque looked through a window and saw the boy, then on the verge of tears, be jerked on one wrist, grabbed under his arms and lifted into the air to the vice principal’s face, where she screamed at the child, the suit stated.
The vice principal then brought the boy back down to the floor, where he fell on his buttocks and hit his head, the suit stated. The vice principal allegedly then grabbed the 4-year-old boy by one wrist and took him back to his classroom.
Guereque also saw the vice principal direct students to clean lunch tables with disinfectant wipes despite the manufacturer’s instructions to keep those wipes away from the students, some of whom also feared asking the vice principal for ketchup packets because she often yelled at them and said they should have gotten ketchup from home, the suit stated.
The vice principal also restricted student access to restrooms by locking doors or standing in front of them and telling the pupils they should have gone to the bathroom during their recesses, the suit stated. A kindergartener had an “accident” after the vice principal did not allow the child to use the restroom, the suit further alleged.
When Guereque complained to the principal about the vice principal allegedly directing students to clean tables with the disinfectant wipes, the principal replied that the vice principal had “a reputation” (for being gruff) and that the plaintiff “needed to toughen up and deal with it,” the suit stated.
Guereque also complained to the principal about the vice principal’s alleged misconduct with the kindergarten student, but the principal irritatingly responded, “Fine, I’ll investigate it,” the suit stated. The plaintiff, knowing she was a mandatory reporter of any alleged child abuse of which she became aware, also notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a priest with the archdiocese, the suit further stated.
Guereque also alleged that the principal ordered her back to her classroom after the plaintiff brought to the administration’s offices a student having trouble breathing and in need of an inhaler, the suit stated. The principal issued the directive while knowing that the plaintiff had been asked to stay with the student until his mother arrived to the school, the suit filed in June 2025 stated.
For taking her stand regarding the student and the inhaler, Guereque was suspended in November 2024 for alleged insubordination, escorted off the property and terminated the next day, according to the suit.