Herbalife International of America Inc. is asking a judge to consolidate lawsuits filed by two women who allege they were wrongfully terminated as part of a two-decade pattern of discrimination and harassment of women by male corporate-level leaders.
Plaintiff Alicia Carbone contends in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that a former Herbalife CEO called her an expletive with “bad energy.” She further alleges that maintaining an alleged toxic culture is a way of doing business at the dietary supplement corporation.
In her suit, the other plaintiff, Monica Kedzierski, alleges she was wrongfully terminated from her job as a vice president for global data, analytics and AI in 2025. She contends she was resented from the start by male colleagues, including another vice president who said she should be “humble” and “show some humility” or she would be considered an “organ that does not fit.”
In court papers filed Monday with Judge Richard S. Kemalyan in advance of an Oct. 19 hearing, Herbalife attorneys say combining the two lawsuits into one makes judicial sense.
“The Carbone action and the Kedzierski action are parallel employment cases filed … by the same plaintiffs’ counsel, against largely the same defendants, arising from the same core factual allegations regarding the same employer, the same time period and the same senior executives,” according to the Herbalife attorneys’ court papers.
Both plaintiffs refer to each other in their complaints, confirming the intertwined nature of their allegations, the company’s lawyers further state in their pleadings.
Maintaining two separate actions would harm judicial economy, require duplicative discovery and motion practice, present a substantial risk of inconsistent rulings and burden the court and the parties with unnecessary costs and fees, according to the Herbalife attorneys’ court papers.
Herbalife has denied the allegations in both women’s lawsuits. In January 2024, in a challenging economy, Herbalife initiated an organizational redesign project, precipitating a global reduction in force later that year, according to the company lawyers’ previous court papers. Then, Herbalife continued to examine how to streamline its operations and, in early 2025, implemented another redesign initiative, this time aimed specifically at its global technology team, the Herbalife attorneys further state in their court papers.
Herbalife first eliminated top technology positions held by two men and two women which were no longer needed to run a more streamlined technology team, the Herbalife attorneys further contend in their court papers.
But in her lawsuit, Carbone says that ` behind (Herbalife’s) glossy marketing campaigns and public commitments to diversity lies a toxic executive culture that rewards compliance, punishes integrity and systematically retaliates against high-performing women who threaten the fraternity, a small circle of powerful chauvinists.”
The alleged offenders include a former CEO and his successor and a veteran CFO, the suit states.
“Any woman who challenges them is swiftly marginalized or forced out,” the suit alleges, while also stating that Carbone consistently fought for equal pay for women.
Carbone was hired in April 2022 into a senior executive role as part of its highly publicized digital transformation and quickly rose to senior vice president of digital and received outstanding performance reviews, according to her complaint.
In her complaint, Kedzierski contended that her male peers and subordinates banded together to undermine her. She further contends that in December 2024 a CFO told Carbone that her ability “to change was fundamental to her being perceived as a “fit.”
“You’re wicked smart, but you don’t always have to prove it,” the executive told Kedzierski, according to her lawsuit.