A woman has tentatively settled her lawsuit against an El Sereno pharmacy in which she alleged she was wrongfully fired in 2022 for not getting vaccinated against the coronavirus even though she gave her supervisors a doctor’s note telling her not to get the shot while she was breastfeeding.
Attorneys for plaintiff Marlene Hernandez filed court papers on Monday notifying Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jill Feeney of a “conditional” settlement of the case against Portola Pharmacy and that a request for dismissal will be filed by Feb. 1. The court papers do not state whether a settlement was reached or if Hernandez is not pursuing the case for other reasons.
In their court papers, pharmacy attorneys denied any wrongdoing on the part of the company and said some or all of Hernandez’s claims were barred by the statute of limitations.
Hernandez’s suit alleged disability discrimination, wrongful termination, failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process and retaliation. She sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Hernandez was hired as a clerk in late 2018 or early 2019 at the North Eastern Avenue business and gave birth to a baby girl in October 2021, the suit stated. She was given six weeks leave and later went on disability until this past September because of postpartum depression, the suit further stated.
Less than a month before her return, Hernandez’s supervisor told her she needed to have the coronavirus shots before she returned to her job and ordered her to come back by Sept. 16, the suit states.
Hernandez texted her supervisor to say she could not get the vaccine until she was done breastfreeding, to which her boss responded that she would need a doctor’s note documenting her claim and that she would have to be regularly tested if she remained unvaccinated, the suit filed Jan. 3 stated.
Hernandez subsequently obtained the requested doctor’s note proving that she was not medically cleared to get the coronavirus shots and the plaintiff forwarded it to her supervisor, the suit stated.
Hernandez’s boss acknowledged receipt of the plaintiff’s doctor’s note, then the same day sent the plaintiff a letter stating she was being terminated for not complying with the pharmacy’s vaccination policy, according to the suit.