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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A pharmacist has reached a settlement of her lawsuit against a staffing company and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, in which she alleged she was wrongfully fired in 2020 from her job with both defendants for getting pregnant and taking leave when she had complications.
An attorney for plaintiff Amy Le told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Christopher K. Lui during a hearing Wednesday that the case against the Sheriff's Department and Rx Relief was resolved in mediation on Friday. No terms were divulged.
The Woodland Hills woman filed her suit in May 2021, alleging wrongful termination, pregnancy discrimination and harassment, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and failure to take all steps to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
The Sheriff's Department said in a previous statement Le may have been employed by Los Angeles County Correctional Health Services, a completely separate department of county government.
"What we can say is Sheriff Alex Villanueva does not condone discrimination in any form," the statement said.
In their court papers, lawyers for Rx Relief denied any liability on the part of company.
Le was hired as a pharmacist in December 2018 and assigned to work with the Sheriff's Department, the suit stated. She became pregnant in about April 2019, but was harassed and discriminated against by supervisors and general employees immediately after letting them know she was expecting a child, the suit stated.
Some of Le's work colleagues commented daily that she was eating too much and that everyone else had to work harder because of her condition, the suit stated.
Le took a lengthy leave of absence in the summer of 2019 because of complications related to her pregnancy and she was subjected to harassment, discrimination and retaliation when she returned in May 2020, including a change to her schedule that reduced her pay and a took away of some of her job duties, the suit stated.
Le also was denied training and told that it was "a lot of work" to bring her back after her leave, the suit alleged.
Le's employers once again allegedly ignored her complaints of harassment and discrimination and instead fired her in August 2020, citing the excuse of a "poor work performance," the suit stated.