A technician who was laid off by the new owner of a Honda store in California has filed a lawsuit for ageism and retaliation, accusing the store of bias against old technicians and questionable and unsafe service practices.
Alfredo Maldonado had worked at the store since 2013 under two previous franchisees, Ocean Honda and Robertson Honda, according to a complaint filed Dec. 12 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. .
Current distributor North Hollywood Honda claims to have fired or forcibly laid off about 12 of its 16 to 20 technicians after it bought the store last June.
“Shortly after Defendants purchased the dealership, management and owners implemented new policies and procedures that had a discriminatory effect on older employees, particularly service technicians,” the complaint states.
Among them was Malodonado, 43, who was discharged from hospital last October.
According to the complaint, “each time Defendant was fired, he replaced the engineer he fired with a much younger, less experienced, and underpaid engineer.” “Many, if not all, of the newly hired technicians are under the age of 30” and have “appropriate qualifications and/or licenses to perform some of their assigned tasks.” Some said they did not.
Dealer chief Joe Shuster said the matter could not be discussed.
Malodonado also said the company raised a potential safety hazard and “a questionable, if not illegal, service practice when it misleadingly advised customers that they needed to install new A/C capacitors in their vehicles.” ‘ and said it retaliated. He “fell financially as he was assigned less and less work,” creating a hostile work environment, the lawsuit said.
Maldonado’s attorney did not answer questions car news.
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