A woman has reached a tentative settlement of her lawsuit against Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. in which she alleged she was wrongfully terminated in 2022 for complaining that co-workers and supervisors chided her for getting pregnant twice when she was 18 years old.
Litzy Leilani Ledesma, now 23, also maintained in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that one boss at the Montebello store called her “dumb” for being an expectant mother so young. Ledesma’s attorneys filed court papers on Wednesday with Judge Steve Cochran notifying him of a “conditional” resolution in the case with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by Sept. 29.
No terms were divulged. In their previous court papers, Chipotle attorneys said Ledesma’s firing was justified and that she never alleged harassment before suing.
“Plaintiff was auto-terminated by a neutral system after she failed to work for four consecutive weeks and repeatedly failed to provide required medical documentation to support her leave,” Chipotle lawyers said in their court papers.
Chipotle rescinded the first auto-termination and gave Ledesma another opportunity to submit documentation, which she again failed to do, the Chipotle attorneys further said in their court papers, adding that absent any “decision-maker action, animus or causal link to protected activity, plaintiff’s discrimination and retaliation claims fail as a matter of law.”
According to Ledesma’s lawsuit, she was hired in January 2022 and was 18 years old when she became pregnant two months later. The pregnancy was terminated two months later “due to complications,” the suit further states.
Ledesma took time off and became pregnant again in August 2022 and after she told her manager he made several disparaging comments and told the plaintiff she was “stupid for getting pregnant again” and said he was happy his own daughters were never like Ledesma, according to the suit.
“Ledesma, horrified, told (the manager) she was really offended by his comments and stormed out of his office,” according to the complaint.
Co-workers and supervisors made disparaging comments to Ledesma and told the manager he should fire her because they did not need people like her around to “mess up the environment,” the suit stated.
When Ledesma’s pregnancy made her exhausted and caused her to work slower than her co-workers, a colleague asked her why she was still working and said it was the plaintiff’s fault that she was pregnant, the suit stated. The same co-worker and his sister, who also worked at the location, rolled their eyes and ignored Ledesma when she was near and laughed with still other co-workers who mocked the plaintiff, the suit stated.
Ledesma’s supervisor was one of two co-workers who made fun of the plaintiff’s morning sickness by pretending to walk to the bathroom to throw up and making imitation gagging noises, the suit stated. Ledesma told the manager about the other workers’ conduct, but he joined in the mocking, the suit further stated.
Ledesma’s second pregnancy was considered high-risk and she was put on a medical leave by her doctor that was later extended until Dec. 1, 2022, but the day before she was notified by mail that she was fired, according to the suit.