A former assistant manager of the now-closed Pink Taco restaurant on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood has settled his lawsuit the company in which he alleged he was forced to resign in 2023 because he was subjected to disparate remarks by supervisors due to his Armenian heritage.
Aren Mesropyan further contended he was denied accommodations to attend church on Sunday. His Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations also included retaliation, failure to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Lawyers in the case told Judge Gail Killefer during a scheduled case management conference on Thursday that the case was resolved, but no terms were resolved. Attorneys for the defendants — PT Opco LLC and FM Restaurants Holdco LLC — previously filed court papers denying Mesropyan’s allegations and said he was bound by his employment agreement to take them before an arbitrator rather than a jury.
Mesropyan was hired in February 2023, but by June of that year his “promising career was disrupted due to his opposition to unlawful directives,” the suit alleged.
During a management meeting, a top executive told Mesropyan and other managers that Pink Taco required 10% of all restaurant sales to be declared as tips, regardless of the actual amounts received, according to the suit filed Jan. 8.
The executive further said that any shortfall from the directive would directly reduce the managers’ bonuses on a dollar-for-dollar basis, according to the suit, which alleged that the order “likely constituted tax fraud under federal and state laws.”
Mesropyan voiced his objections to the executive as well as to his general manager and said he would not participate in what he deemed illegal activity, and that caused management to begin retaliating against him, the suit alleged.
One executive told Mesropyan, “You Armenians don’t know how to do your job,” “You’re so stuck up” and “I don’t like Armenians because they’re all about fraud,” according to the suit.
Two executives also started a disciplinary action against falsely alleging that he “failed to properly set up the restaurant,” the suit stated.
Although a manager told Mesropyan when the plaintiff was hired that he could have time off to attend church on Sunday, that privilege was later consistently denied, the suit alleged.
Mesropyan sent an email to human resources stating, “I’ve kept my silence for this long because I was scared of losing my position for speaking up” and “I didn’t want to be seen as the cancer on the team,” then nothing meaningful was done and so he resigned in August 2023, according to the suit.
The Pink Taco Sunset Strip location closed last September in a disagreement over the lease. The company still has locations in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Boston.