A woman who claims a fire department battalion chief sexually harassed her and other young women working for the disaster relief charity Community Organized Relief Effort says in new court papers that she never agreed to have an arbitrator rather than a jury decide the portion of her suit against the organization.
Sarena Serrano’s sworn declaration was submitted Tuesday in response to CORE’s motion to force her claims into arbitration, which is scheduled for a Jan. 19 hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff.
“When I signed (my employment agreement), I did not realize I was giving up my right to a jury trial or (to) sue in court,” Serrano says. “There is no language in the (agreement) that says that. I was not given an opportunity to talk to a lawyer about this provision in the (agreement), nor did CORE ever explain to me what this meant.”
Serrano brought her suit Sept. 8 against CORE, its CEO Ann Young Lee, the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Jaime Lesinski. It alleges sexual harassment, gender violence, sexual battery, aiding and abetting sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to prevent harassment and wrongful termination.
Lee is co-founder of CORE along with actor Sean Penn, who is not a defendant.
In previous court papers, CORE lawyers — who include Britney Spears attorney Mathew Rosengart — state that Serrano was hired June 16, 2020, and a week later submitted by email an electronically signed copy of her employment contract in which she agreed that all disputes would be subject to arbitration.
“Plaintiff’s claims against CORE arise exclusively from her employment and termination of her employment and thereby are covered under the parties’ arbitration agreement,” the CORE attorneys state in their court papers. “The strong policies under federal and California law require plaintiff to arbitrate her claims.”
Although the motion does not pertain to the parts of Serrano’s case against the other defendants, CORE lawyers are asking that the entire case be put on hold pending the outcome of the arbitration.
Serrano says she believed a reference to binding arbitration in her employment agreement meant that she had a right to settle her case with the American Arbitration Association if she sued CORE. She further says she does not understand a provision in the agreement that she was responsible for paying her own attorneys’ fees.
“If I prevail in my harassment case against CORE and others, does that mean I don’t get an award of attorneys’ fees?” Serrano asks. “This is ambiguous to me and I didn’t know I could recover attorneys’ fees for my claims until I talked to a lawyer prior to my lawsuit. I also don’t understand the term `accounting fees.’ Does that mean I have to pay for the AAA hearing? I can’t afford that.”
CORE, which is currently providing coronavirus testing at Dodger Stadium, also did so from June through October 2020. Lesinski worked at the site from June through August 2020 and oversaw, managed and directed the operations in coordination with Lee, according to the suit.
The suit alleges that Serrano and other young women who worked daily with Lesinski were touched by him on their lower backs and buttocks without consent, subjected to inappropriate sexual comments about their sexual organs and forced to hear sexually demeaning comments about them.
Lee and other CORE managers knew or should have known about Lesinski’s behavior by June 2020, the suit alleges. Serrano asked her supervisor for a paid day off after having a mental breakdown upon learning that Lee was allegedly aware of Lesinski’s conduct for months and had done nothing to correct it, but she was told she could only have unpaid time off, the suit states.
Serrano was fired in October 2020 for unspecified “unprofessional behavior,” according to the suit.