Furniture store employee fired after positive COVID-19 test, California lawsuit says

A California woman is suing her former employer, alleging that she was fired after testing positive for COVID-19.

Priscilla Perez filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Nov. 12 against One Perfect Choice furniture store in Walnut. She is seeking damages from the company after she says they discriminated against her on the basis of disability, intentionally inflicted emotional distress and wrongfully terminated her.

McClatchy News reached out to One Perfect Choice for comment but did not receive a response Monday.

Perez said she tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of June and took time off from her job as an office assistant to recover, according to the lawsuit. When she returned to work, the lawsuit says, her boss “began giving her the runaround” and “told her to file for unemployment benefits.”

Perez’s manager told her the company couldn’t afford to continue employing her, the lawsuit says, although the stored hired additional employees and gave other workers pay raises.

According to the lawsuit, Perez told a supervisor and her manager that she thought she was being discriminated against for having COVID-19. They retaliated by firing her on July 18, the lawsuit alleges.

“[Perez] was told she was terminated because the company had to reorganize due to COVID-19. However, this excuse was pretext for discrimination because no reorganization took place,” according the lawsuit.

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Furniture store employee fired after positive COVID-19 test, California lawsuit says."