A former employee has filed a lawsuit against a tech company, alleging age discrimination and wrongful termination. Ryan Helft, the plaintiff, submitted the complaint on December 24, 2024, in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, targeting Workato Inc., a Delaware corporation.
The lawsuit unfolds with Helft accusing Workato of terminating his employment based on age discrimination and replacing him with a younger employee. Helft was employed by Workato as the Director of Customer Success for their Embedded Business Unit starting in December 2021. Despite receiving positive feedback and bonuses for his performance throughout 2022 and leading his team to exceed goals even after organizational changes in early 2023, Helft claims he was subjected to unfair treatment due to his age. The complaint details that following an unsuccessful reorganization experiment at Workato in January 2024, older executives were systematically removed from their positions. This included Helft's supervisor Derrick Roberts and other senior staff members.
In February 2024, Dan Kennedy became Helft's direct supervisor and soon informed him about potential demotion options. On March 28, Kennedy offered Helft either resignation with a two-month separation package or placement on a performance improvement plan (PIP) with a lesser package if terminated thereafter. Believing in good faith, Helft chose the PIP but alleges it was pretextual and set up for failure. Despite meeting goals during this period according to Kennedy’s feedback, Helft was terminated on April 29 without specifics on alleged failures.
Helft’s complaint includes several causes of action: wrongful termination in violation of public policy; age discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA); failure to prevent discrimination; negligent infliction of emotional distress; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and violations under the Private Attorney General Act (PAGA). The allegations extend beyond personal grievances to include systemic issues within Workato’s employment practices such as illegal confidentiality agreements that violate California law by restraining trade and infringing employees' rights.
Helft seeks various forms of relief including general damages for loss of earning capacity, punitive damages for malicious conduct by Workato, restitution according to proof presented at trial, full civil penalties under PAGA for each violation cited against Workato's policies affecting multiple employees over time since December 2021 when he joined them until now—and injunctive relief among others deemed equitable by court standards.
Representing Ryan Helft are attorneys Michael O. Azat and Issa Azat Jr., from The Azat Law Group based in Pasadena CA while Judge C Roman reviewed this case under ID number 24CV454873 at its filing stage before proceeding further into litigation phases ahead.