Lawsuit Filed Against The People Concern

By TRILBY BERESFORD | Reporter

Two former employees of social service agency The People Concern filed a lawsuit against the organization on July 9, according to court documents.

The Santa Monica-based company may sound familiar to Palisadians as it serves the homeless community through outreach, housing, medical and wellness programs.

Plaintiffs allege that The People Concern violated the California Fair Employment Act by way of a racially and sexually hostile work environment. They are both African-American.

They also allege that unsanitary working conditions violated the California Labor Code.

According to the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, one plaintiff experienced “race-based harassment” from their Caucasian supervisor.

They resigned in November 2017 due to “working conditions so intolerable that any reasonable employee working under such conditions would feel compelled to resign.”

These conditions included a bedbug, rat and cockroach infestation “that plagued residents and employees,” plumbing and sanitary issues, and “mountains of garbage” that they were forced to pick up “in the absence of adequate janitorial services.”

When an employee resigns because of an intolerable workplace, California Law may recognize it as a “Constructive Discharge.” This is akin to wrongful termination.

“As a direct and proximate result of the constructive wrongful termination, [they] lost [their] job, and incurred loss of wages, medical expenses, emotional distress, depression, sadness, feelings of helplessness, feelings of worthlessness, humiliation and anger,” the lawsuit states.

The second plaintiff was employed as a counselor to homeless and mentally ill clients of The People Concern from approximately July 2006 to April 2017. They allege that they were wrongfully terminated after rejecting a sexual advance from their male supervisor. The losses are described similarly in the lawsuit.

Olga Zurawska, a former client of The People Concern who participated in their Turning Point interim housing program in Santa Monica two years ago, has shared similar grievances to the plaintiffs since then.

To the Palisadian-Post, she referenced a sentence in the lawsuit that alleges the defendants created a “lawless” environment—this is something Zurawska believes to be true. She gave the example of witnessing “discrimination based on disability” when disabled clients were not given adequate parking at the premises.

When Zurawska brought these concerning issues to staff members, she claims there were “no efforts to address them.”

During a phone call with the Post, Executive Director John Maceri expressed, “We believe there is no merit to the [lawsuit] accusations.”

He added that, since The People Concern is a large organization, legal cases do occur sometimes. But he could recall only two or three in 19 years. “This is not a regular occurrence for us,” he concluded.

Maceri mentioned that he receives emails that contain hearsay complaints about The People Concern, yet when he invites those people to view the premises and speak with staff about their concerns, they rarely pursue the invitation.

“It’s sad and unfortunate,” he said, referencing the lawsuit. “But we’re going to continue doing our work.”

Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homeless President Doug McCormick expressed that, historically, The People Concern has done “a great job [in the community].” He was “shocked” to learn of the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs are demanding a grand jury trial and will be represented by attorney David Craig Bernstein, Esq. in court.