Chain | Cohn | Clark takes on wrongful termination, discrimination case against Bakersfield business

* Please note: Chain | Cohn | Clark is no longer accepting wrongful termination cases *

For several years, Adam Rendon worked at Bakersfield’s Best Pawn on Chester Avenue. There, he was subjected to derogatory remarks from his supervisors and coworkers.

At one point, when he ignored the comments, his coworker pointed a gun at him and pulled back the hammer. The gun was unloaded. On another occasion, his colleague told him, “I don’t like me no queers,” and then fired a nail gun on concrete to make a loud “bang.” Rendon, believing that Jimenez had fired an actual gun, experienced heart palpitations and shortness of breath and was admitted to an emergency room at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.

Then, in June 2011, Rendon published a book that detailed his difficult upbringing and revealed he was gay. From that point, he was continuously subjected to severe and pervasive harassment from his coworkers because of his sexual orientation that included employees firing guns at a picture of Rendon attached to a wall at the back of the store.

In February this year, Rendon was fired.

The Bakersfield wrongful termination lawyers at Chain | Cohn | Clark — Matt Clark and Neil Gehlawat — have filed a lawsuit against pawn shop owner Donald Younger, manager Jose Santoyo and employee Richard Jimenez for harassment and discrimination. The Bakersfield Californian highlighted the case in its Oct. 24 edition, which you can read here. See the article in the newspaper here.

“The bottom line is that everyone is entitled to work in an environment free of hostility and discrimination,” said Chain | Cohn | Clark lawyer Neil Gehlawat. “Unfortunately for Adam, he was denied this basic right. After self-publishing his book about his difficult upbringing, in which he disclosed his sexual orientation, he was subjected to an array of homophobic remarks, slurs, and even violence by his co-workers. And to make matters worse, when he complained about this behavior to the owner of the store, he was subjected to even more hostility, retaliation, and was ultimately terminated.

Gehlawat continued: “By filing this lawsuit, Adam wants to send a message to Bakersfield’s Best Pawn, and to all employers, that every employee deserves to work in a hostile-free environment, regardless of their age, race, gender, or in his case, sexual orientation.”

Rendon, with the assistance of Chain | Cohn | Clark, is seeking compensatory damages from Bakersfield’s Best Pawn including lost wages, bonuses and retirement benefits as well as general damages for mental pain, anguish and emotional distress. The lawsuit also demands punitive damages to punish the pawn shop’s owner and employees who either engaged in the harassment or didn’t do anything to stop it.

* Editor’s Note: Neil Gehlawat is no longer an attorney with Chain | Cohn | Clark *