A 57-year-old man who alleges that Cedars-Sinai Medical Center fired him as a mental health worker in 2023 for reasons related to his sleep apnea must take his claims before an arbitrator rather than a jury, a judge has ruled.
Maurice Mouton’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges wrongful termination, age and disability discrimination, retaliation, failure to engage in the interactive process and failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation.
On Tuesday, in the wake of the parties’ agreement, Judge Robert Broadbelt ordered the case to arbitration and put the case on hold pending the outcome.
A hearing on the status of the arbitration is scheduled for July 29, 2025. In their earlier court papers, Cedars-Sinai attorneys denied Mouton’s allegations.
Mouton’s suit, filed Aug. 13, alleges that the hospital “engaged in a pattern of treating older employees less favorably than their younger counterparts.”
Mouton was hired in December 2008 as a mental health worker and was responsible for assisting and monitoring patients as well as retrieving patient supplies. Four years later, he was diagnosed with sleep apnea, a condition that can leave one drowsy during the day.
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.
Although Mouton worked with a doctor on a treatment plan, in October 2012 hospital management gave him a written warning with a suspension because he fell asleep during work hours, the suit states. Mouton was accommodated with a reduced number of work hours and for 10 years he was not observed sleeping on the job, the suit states.
But in June 2023, Mouton was working 72 hours per week and management reported him to be sleeping on duty or having the appearance of doing so, and two months later his supervisor contended he saw the plaintiff with his head down, the suit states.
Mouton was put on a temporary leave and met with his union representative as well as the supervisor, explaining that he was working long hours and was soon going get a new sleep apnea machine, according to the suit.
However, hospital management did not offer any accommodations to Mouton and he was terminated in August 2023, the suit states. Younger workers with several job warnings and admonishments were not terminated, including one who hit a patient and another seen asleep on the job, Mouton alleges.
Mouton has experienced financial losses and emotional distress since losing his job, the suit states.