Jaelenn Bumagat, a former employee at a hospital in San Jose, California, has filed a lawsuit alleging severe workplace harassment and retaliation. The complaint was filed on April 16, 2025, by Elizabeth Nguyen of EN Law Group, APC, in the Superior Court of California for the County of Santa Clara against Samaritan, LLC doing business as Good Samaritan Hospital.
Bumagat's allegations are serious and detailed. She claims that during her employment from July 31, 2023, to November 23, 2024, she was subjected to continuous harassment by a colleague named Mariano Pioquinto. The complaint outlines how Pioquinto allegedly made inappropriate comments about her appearance and engaged in unwanted physical contact. Despite reporting these incidents to her superiors and Human Resources multiple times, Bumagat asserts that no effective action was taken to address the situation. "The Hospital continued to take no action," she states in her complaint.
The plaintiff also accuses the hospital management of negligence in handling her complaints. According to Bumagat, after reporting the harassment to her Charge Nurse and other managers including Sherry Rendell and Orchid Quiton-Chefalo (Director of Nursing), she faced further discomfort when asked to meet with Pioquinto for resolution—a suggestion she found distressing given his role as the harasser. Additionally, when Bumagat reached out to Human Resources for help, they allegedly failed to maintain confidentiality about her complaint and took inadequate steps towards resolution.
Feeling unsafe and unsupported by both Human Resources and an ethics helpline that redirected her back to HR without offering help, Bumagat felt compelled to resign—a move she describes as constructive discharge due to intolerable working conditions. She argues that the hospital's failure to separate her from Pioquinto or conduct a thorough investigation into his behavior amounted not only to negligence but also retaliation for engaging in protected activities under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
In her lawsuit, Bumagat seeks compensatory damages for lost wages and emotional distress caused by the alleged harassment and subsequent mishandling of her complaints. She is also pursuing punitive damages due to what she describes as intentional infliction of emotional distress by hospital management. Her legal team demands injunctive relief alongside attorney fees.
Elizabeth Nguyen represents Jaelenn Bumagat in this case before Judge T. Phan under Case ID 25CV463656.