While the Central Coast is conversing about Haggen supermarket chain firing more than a dozen employees with disabilities, a developmentally disabled employee is suing T.J. Maxx in Santa Maria for bullying her into quitting in 2014, according to a lawsuit filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court January 2015.
In the lawsuit, Gina Lopez accuses management of the T.J. Maxx store of using her as a scapegoat and blaming her for loss of inventory after the store experienced several alleged customer thefts.
Lopez, who is 40 years old, suffers from a disability stemming from a lack of oxygen she received as she was being born, according to her brother, Vincent Lopez.
Reached by phone, Lopez told the Sun her managers forced her to do extra work beyond the scope of her job, such as force her to clean up urine and vomit inside the dressing rooms on two different occasions.
Lopez, who said she worked at the store between 2003 and 2014, said she suffered emotional distress because of the harassment, which started in the last couple of years.
Even though the case was filed last January, Lopez’s attorney, Robert Doble, said he is now in confidential settlement negotiations.
Because Lopez quit, she cannot file for unemployment and now has no source of income, according to her brother, adding that she could apply for government disability but doesn’t want to.
“It’s very sad because my sister really loves her job,” Vincent said, adding that his sister wasn’t properly trained for loss prevention.
All Lopez is asking for is back wages from the day she was fired—April 25, 2014—to today, plus attorneys fees.
T.J. Maxx—a department store chain that sells household goods, including discounted, overstocked items—upped the ante by hiring Fatemeh Mashouf, an attorney with Littler Mendelsen, a law firm that specializes in representing employment managers, according to Doble.
The San Francisco-based firm says it’s the “largest” law firm of its type, according to its website, and has several offices in the U.S. and around the world.
Vincent said Littler Mendelsen was not receptive to their offer to receive back pay and attorney’s fees and said the firm offered Gina only $1,500.
When the Sun reached her by phone, Mashouf wouldn’t acknowledge that she was representing T.J. Maxx in this case and preferred to issue a statement at a later time. The Sun did not receive a statement before press time.
The case is not a class action, and appears to be isolated to this store. But Vincent believes the problem could happen in other stores.
“I don’t think T.J. Maxx properly trained their supervisors to deal with developmentally disabled people,” Vincent said.
This article appears in Aug 6-13, 2015.
