A former employee has filed a lawsuit against her previous employer, alleging multiple violations of California employment laws. On August 15, 2024, Cecilia Lara filed a complaint in the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara against Epicurean Group, claiming disability discrimination and wrongful termination.
Cecilia Lara was employed by Epicurean Group as a food preparer at Dominican University starting in August 2017. In March 2023, she was diagnosed with a hernia and tendon injury in her finger, which necessitated work restrictions. Despite providing medical documentation to her employer, Lara alleges that Epicurean Group ignored these restrictions and forced her to work in pain. She claims that when she reported the issue to her supervisor, no corrective action was taken.
The situation escalated in June 2023 when Lara began working under a new chef, Jesus Saragosa. According to the complaint, Saragosa harassed Lara about her job performance due to her physical limitations and threatened to replace her if she did not work harder. The harassment continued until late September or early October 2023 when Lara suffered severe pain while mixing pizza dough—a task that violated her medical restrictions. Despite requesting help from coworkers and warning them about reporting the injury, no assistance was provided.
Lara's employment was terminated shortly after this incident during a meeting with the University President and other managers. She believes that her termination was directly related to her disability and need for accommodations. The complaint details how this alleged discrimination caused significant emotional distress and financial loss for Lara.
In addition to claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) for disability discrimination, failure to accommodate disability, failure to engage in the interactive process, retaliation, and failure to prevent discrimination/retaliation, Lara also accuses Epicurean Group of violating the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Labor Code §1102.5 (whistleblower protection), Labor Code §232.5 (disclosure of working conditions), and wrongful termination in violation of public policy.
Lara seeks general and compensatory damages for lost wages, emotional distress, punitive damages for malicious conduct by Epicurean Group, attorney’s fees, expert witness fees, costs incurred during litigation, and any other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
Representing Cecilia Lara are attorneys Seung Yang and Brett Gunther from The Sentinel Firm. The case is being overseen by Judge M. Suarez under Case ID: 24CV445235.