Former Walnut warehouse workers settle suit over COVID safety complaints

LOS ANGELES — A judge has approved a settlement of a lawsuit brought by four former Walnut warehouse workers who alleged their ex-employer wrongfully prevented them from returning to work in 2021 after they recovered from the coronavirus.

Angelica Avila, Angelica Loza, Sergio Gonzalez and Bryan Gonzalez brought the lawsuit in June 2021 in Los Angeles Superior Court against Port Logistics Group Inc., alleging discrimination, retaliation, harassment and failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation. They sought unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit filed Tuesday.

On Monday, Judge Kevin C. Brazile assented to an accord between the parties, but no terms were divulged.

Avila and Loza were hired in November 2019, both as scanners and packers, the suit stated. Sergio Gonzalez was hired in November 2018 and Bryan Gonzalez in June 2019, both as drivers, the suit stated.

All four plaintiffs worked together in the same Cheryl Lane warehouse as Juan Gonzalez, the husband of Avila, the son of Loza and Sergio Gonzalez and the brother of Bryan Gonzalez, according to the suit.

In November 2020, Juan Gonzalez, who is not a plaintiff, made several complaints regarding the alleged lack of COVID-19 safety precautions in place at the warehouse and told supervisors at a staff meeting that machinery and workstations were not being sanitized between the morning and afternoon shifts, the suit stated.

Juan Gonzalez also told his bosses that personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks and hand sanitizer was not being provided to the warehouse employees, forcing workers to have to buy their own, the suit stated.

“Although Juan Gonzalez raised these complaints, nothing was done,” according to the complaint.

But warehouse workers began to test positive for the coronavirus as the plaintiffs saw their co-workers show up to work with fevers, coughs, shortness of breath, fatigue, body aches, sore throat and headaches, the suit alleged.

By mid-December 2020, the plaintiffs began feeling ill and they — as well as Juan Gonzalez — subsequently tested positive for the virus while eventually suffering significant symptoms for several weeks, the suit stated.

The plaintiffs were given two weeks pay during their quarantine period, the suit states. However, they and Juan Gonzalez told their supervisors in January 2021 that they had tested negative and could return to work, but management never responded, the suit alleged.

“Given the circumstances, it is clear that the true and unlawful reason for plaintiffs’ termination was … the complaints of health and safety in the workplace raised by their family member, Juan Gonzalez, and retaliation for their contraction of the COVID-19 virus and relationship to Juan Gonzalez for his protesting an unsafe work environment,” the suit stated.