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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A former compliance specialist for Herbalife International of America Inc. has dropped her lawsuit against the dietary supplements company in which she alleged she was wrongfully fired in 2022 for cooperating with an internal investigation of another employee's complaint against the firm and for requesting to work from home in order to care for her parents.
Attorneys for plaintiff Roxana Baez filed court papers on Wednesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy asking that her case be dismissed "with prejudice," meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not indicate if a settlement was reached or if Baez is not pursuing the case for other reasons.
The lawsuit allegations included wrongful termination, retaliation, disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and engage in the interactive process and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
In their court papers, Herbalife attorneys maintained Baez's position was eliminated due to "organizational changes and related cost-cutting efforts."
Baez was hired in September 2015 and originally worked as executive assistant for Chief Compliance Officer Henry Wang, the suit states. Wang was originally a co-defendant in the suit filed March 24, but was then dropped from the case by Baez on June 21.
After Wang became Herbalife's general counsel, Julia Bailey was hired as the chief compliance officer and reported to Wang and in 2018, Bailey promoted Baez to a compliance specialist position, according to the suit.
Bailey was fired in August 2020 at about the time Herbalife reached a settlement with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which conducted a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act probe into the company, the suit stated.
Bailey alleged that her termination was unlawful and accused Wang of inappropriate and unlawful conduct in the workplace, the suit states. Herbalife' s human resources investigated Bailey's claims and interviewed Baez, who corroborated some of Bailey's allegations regarding Wang's conduct, according to the suit.
Herbalife and Bailey ultimately settled her claims, but Baez's relationship with Wang became strained, the suit stated. Baez continued to work on her projects, but was no longer allowed to coordinate with outside counsel and auditors, nor was she permitted to communicate directly with senior management, the suit stated.
Baez also was excluded from meetings where her projects were discussed and she was not allowed to provide reports regarding ongoing programs to senior management as she had done in the past, the suit alleged.
In October 2021, Baez moved to Banning to be near her parents and help with their care, the suit states. But in May 2022, Baez, who had been working remotely since March 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions, was told along with other employees to resume working in the office, the suit stated.
Human resources denied Baez's request to continue working from home or have some flexibility in her schedule so she could tend to her father and mother, the suit stated.
Baez took a medical leave last August and received a company-wide email notification about the potential for layoffs within the company, but the plaintiff was assured they would not impact her, the suit stated.
However, when Baez returned to the office that same month, she was told her position was eliminated due to budget constraints, even though Herbalife hired three new employees in her department within two months of her termination, the suit stated.
"Plaintiff's termination obviously had nothing to do with budget constraints and everything to do with her having cooperated in the HR investigation into Bailey's termination and her requests for accommodations," the suit alleged.
But according to the Herbalife attorneys' court papers, the company decided to replace Baez's job with a higher-skilled position in a lower-cost region that would handle responsibilities Baez "did not and could not effectively perform."