National Debt Relief LLC won a round in court when a judge ruled that a man who alleged he was driven to depression due to his workload and fired while on leave will have to take his claims before an arbitrator rather than a jury.
Marvin Kharrazi contends in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that he was one of the top producers at the debt consolidation company’s Culver City office, but was still pressured to produce more and that the impact caused him to take time off. He further maintains he was told when he was fired while on leave in 2022 that it was because of too many absences.
On Monday, Judge Bradley S. Phillips granted NDR’s motion to compel arbitration. The judge also put the lawsuit on hold pending the outcome of the binding arbitration and scheduled a status conference for March 17, 2026.
NDR is the nation’s largest debt settlement company. In their court papers, the company’s attorneys contended that in February 2017, Kharrazi signed an agreement to arbitrate all work disputes.
“Plaintiff now seeks to circumvent the very obligations which he plainly agreed to abide by and for which he has no basis to dispute,” NDR attorneys wrote in their pleadings.
In his lawsuit brought last July 10, Kharrazi says he was promoted within a year of being hired, received numerous accolades and made $2 million to $3 million in sales for the company on multiple different months.
“The pressure from NDR to deliver these results become unrelenting,” the suit states. “Plaintiff began to work 14-hour days with no breaks. He began to suffer from severe bouts of stress and anxiety because of the harassment, toxic work environment and excessive workload.”
Kharrazi eventually went on medical leave for his disabilities and NDR constantly asked for proof of his condition, causing him more anxiety as well as panic attacks, according to the suit, which further states that the plaintiff was fired in July 2022 while still on leave and was told it was because of excessive absenteeism.