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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A former executive for a Vernon factory that produces such Mexican-style foods as Tina's Burritos is suing the company, alleging he was fired in the spring for complaining about workplace safety problems that included workers being exposed to high levels of ammonia.
Eric Enciso's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Camino Real Foods Inc. was brought under the state's Private Attorneys General Act, which authorizes allegedly aggrieved employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees and the state of for purported Labor Code violations.
Enciso alleges retaliation and failure to provide a safe working environment. He seeks civil penalties under the state Labor Code as well as attorneys' fees. A Camino Real representative could not be immediately reached for comment on the suit brought Friday.
Camino Real has about 500 to 600 workers at its Vernon plant, where Mexican-style foods, including burritos and chimichangas, are produced under the Tina's Burritos brand.
Camino Real's President and CEO Robert Cross has said the company's workers make more than 1 million burritos daily which are sold at grocery stores and retailers nationwide, according to the suit, which calls Cross "largely an absentee CEO" who spends most of his time at corporate offices in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Enciso was employed as Camino Real's COO from Jan. 9 to April 13, during which time he discovered that the factory allegedly failed to comply with numerous safety and health laws, codes and regulations that imperiled the safety and health of the plaintiff and all employees, the suit states.
The alleged safety problems included the company's failure to repair its faulty ammonia refrigeration system that endangers the health and safety of workers who are repeatedly exposed to unhealthy and dangerous levels of anhydrous ammonia; the neglect of a leaky roof, which allows dirty, toxic, rust- colored water during rains to leak onto the production floor and food manufacturing equipment; and Camino Real's inadequate attention to worker complaints of getting sick from airborne contaminants, according to the suit.
Enciso also complained about Camino Real's alleged inattention to a heating system for the water used in the manufacture of food products, which could endanger the health and safety of consumers who consume company products, the suit states.
Camino Real and Cross refuse to authorize and pay for repairs to the ammonia refrigeration system even after evacuations of employees in February, March and April due to ammonia leaks, the suit states. Enciso believes the company's ammonia emission alarms do not operate correctly or at all, meaning the only way workers can detect an ammonia leak is by smelling it, the suit states.
During the April leak, several pregnant workers were hospitalized due to ammonia exposure and additional workers were sent home after becoming ill, the suit states.
Enciso also complained to Cross and to Camino Real's human resources department that the company's operations director had sexually harassed the plaintiff, according to the suit, which further states that Cross subsequently excluded Enciso from meetings and that the plaintiff was fired April 13 in alleged retaliation for speaking out.