Rosemead, California McDonald’s franchise employee pressured to violate State employment/child labor laws, then fired in retaliation, lawsuit claims

ROSEMEAD, CALIFORNIA (CA), UNITED STATES, October 28, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Ashley Lopez, a former Shift Manger at a McDonald’s restaurant franchise run by M. Pernecky Management Corp. in Rosemead, CA, is claiming that she was pressured to violate State child labor laws and fulfill unlawful demands by her employer. She alleges that she suffered retaliation for pushing back against these demands and was then fired after reporting these violations to a corporate manager of the franchisee.

In the lawsuit, Case No. 21STCV31912, Lopez states that her issues with Store Manager Cesar Reyes began after he promoted her to Shift Manager when she was 16. Lopez alleges that following this promotion, Reyes routinely disregarded California state labor laws that limited the number of hours she, a minor, could work, often demanding Lopez miss school or stay late on school nights in order to complete illegally long shifts. Lopez claims Reyes would force her cooperation by insinuating that her job was in jeopardy if she did not comply. She also alleges that she was expected to be on-call on days she was not scheduled to work, including school days, and work odd hours, which forced her to miss even further school hours.

Additionally, Lopez claims that she was encouraged to miss doctor’s appointments, with Reyes telling her, “I might’ve been wrong in making you a manager,” when she called out for an emergency medical procedure.

Lopez alleges that despite bringing up this behavior to Reyes’ supervisor, Operations Supervisor Ruben Duran, no action was ever taken by anyone in power to stop these unlawful instructions, and Reyes’ conduct did not change.

After making these complaints, Lopez alleges that Reyes terminated her employment. She also alleges that when she tried to appeal this termination to Duran, she was met with further hostility from Duran, who ultimately sided with Reyes.

Lopez is represented by attorney Kyle Todd, of Kyle Todd, P.C. Requests for comment can be directed to Mr. Todd, at kyle@kyletodd.com or (323) 208-9171.

Kyle Todd
Kyle Todd, P.C.
+1 323-208-9171
email us here