Georgina Puglisi v. Hillstone Restaurant Group, Inc.

I. Background

Plaintiff initiated this action in Orange County Superior Court on August 6, 2020. (Dkt. 1-1 (“Compl.”).) Plaintiff alleges she was employed by Defendant Hillstone as a restaurant server in March 2000 and worked for twenty years without any significant disciplinary action. (Id. ¶ 11.) Plaintiff alleges Mario Jaramillo, a manager at Defendant’s restaurant in Newport Beach, California, favored younger female employees who were having sexual relationships with him. (Id. ¶ 13.) Plaintiff alleges she complained to a different manager about the sexual favoritism she observed but no action was taken to investigate Jaramillo’s actions at that time. (Id.) In January 2020, Plaintiff was informed that she was being terminated as a result of a guest complaint. (Id. ¶ 14.)

Plaintiff alleges the true reason for her termination was her age and refusal to engage in a sexual relationship with Jaramillo because the most recent complaint in Plaintiff’s personnel file was from four years ago. (Id.) Plaintiff further alleges her termination was pretextual because the guest complaint provided as the basis for her termination was from an unnamed individual and complained of the…