Jury sides with employee in Passages Malibu termination case

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded $1.8 million to a Passages Malibu employee in a wrongful termination lawsuit, according to MynewsLA. She alleged that the treatment center fired her for whistleblowing and discriminated against her because of age and disability.

A human resources director, Cynthia Begazo stated that she had informed supervisors that some workers were not receiving overtime pay or breaks, which violated federal law. Further, she stated that she was told by a superior not to report a patient death that occurred at the facility.

Begazo had taken time away from the job for health reasons and was fired when she returned. The suit stated that she had leukemia and informed Passages Malibu of that when she was hired in March 2015. She was 53 at the time.

An executive at the treatment center testified in the suit that Begazo had failed to follow instructions on her job duties.

Phone calls to the treatment center about the matter on Tuesday were not returned.