A WeWork executive, who was let go from his vice president role at the company earlier this year, is suing his former employer. He filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against them in San Francisco Superior Court last week.
In his filing, the 62-year-old plaintiff chronicles how he was living in New York and working for UA Builders Group in March of 2018. It’s around that time that the company he was employed with was acquired by WeWork. Soon after that, he was appointed to the role of vice president of construction over its U.S. west coast division. He was then transferred to San Francisco.
The plaintiff claims that he never had any negative performance reviews during his first six months working for WeWork. He also claims that he’d successfully grown the company’s western division team. Even still, he claims that his employer hired on an additional vice president of construction in his same office in September. After that hiring, WeWork’s intranet showed that the plaintiff was now responsible for answering to the new hire.
During his tenure at WeWork, he notes that older employees were routinely passed up for work on new projects and were even discouraged from attending meetings. They were often denied advancement opportunities or let go from their roles altogether. The plaintiff levied complaints with his human resources department after witnessing this age discrimination. He notes that this resulted in his unlawful termination in February.
In his filing, the plaintiff highlighted how he was promised a long-term position with WeWork before he decided to move across the country to California. He is seeking compensation for his moving expenses as well as lost stock options, employment opportunities and earnings.
Another employee who held a leadership role at WeWork filed a gender discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit against the company in October. In the filing, she claims that she too was fired after reporting the treatment she had endured to WeWork’s human resources office.
There are various instances in which a termination may be considered to be unlawful in California. If it’s done out of discrimination, because an employee breached a contract or for retaliatory reasons, then a firing may be considered to be illegal. An attorney can review your case to determine if you were unlawfully discharged from your role according to California law.