Brian Meneghan has filed a lawsuit against Russell Sigler, Inc., alleging a series of serious grievances including age and sexual harassment, wrongful termination, and breach of contract. The complaint was lodged in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara on January 14, 2025. Meneghan accuses his former employer, Russell Sigler, Inc., of luring him from a stable career with Carrier Corporation in New York to California under false pretenses.
The lawsuit details how Meneghan was approached by Carlos Martinez, Senior Sales and Engineering Manager for Sigler's California offices, in February 2022. Martinez allegedly promised Meneghan a lucrative position with an annual salary of $500,000 if he moved to California to work for Sigler. These promises were reportedly reinforced by Rodney Martin, Sigler’s CEO. However, once Meneghan relocated and began working at Sigler in April 2022, these promises went unfulfilled. By March 2023, it became clear that the salary promises were not going to be honored.
Meneghan's complaint outlines numerous instances where he faced retaliation and harassment after attempting to hold Martinez accountable for the promised salary. He claims that his complaints to human resources about Martinez's abusive behavior were ignored or exacerbated the situation. Eventually, after refusing a demotion suggested by Martinez as retaliation for his complaints about unpaid promised compensation and workplace discrimination against women employees he hired, Meneghan was terminated without explanation on March 7, 2024.
The legal filing accuses Russell Sigler, Inc., and its management of violating several laws including California Labor Code Section 970 regarding false representation during recruitment and Government Code §12900 related to age discrimination and harassment. Additionally, it charges them with failing to prevent discrimination as required by law.
Meneghan seeks compensatory damages for moving expenses and lost income due to wrongful termination along with punitive damages for emotional distress caused by the alleged harassment and discrimination. He also demands double compensatory damages under California Labor Code Section 972 due to fraudulent inducement into employment based on false promises.
Representing Brian Meneghan are attorneys Roderick P. Bushnell from the Law Office of Roderick P. Bushnell and Thomas Marc Litton from the Law Offices of Thomas Marc Litton. The case is being reviewed under Case ID: 25CV456524 by Judge A. Hernandez at the Superior Court of CA in Santa Clara County.