Lucky Stores Warehouse Workers File Suit

More than 70 warehouse workers filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that Lucky Stores has engaged in unlawful practices involving sex, racial and age discrimination, their attorney said.

At the heart of the lawsuit is the claim by workers that they were essentially edged out of their jobs when the Fullerton warehouse where they had been working closed.

After the June 1 closure, the company refused to transfer the workers, with their seniority intact, to a new warehouse in La Habra, the lawsuit claimed.

The Superior Court lawsuit claims the company, in refusing to allow the workers to transfer to the La Habra site and retain their full seniority, was discriminating against older workers. All of the plaintiffs are 40 years or older, said Irvine attorney Lee A. Wood, who represents the workers.

Instead, the company hired younger employees at lower wages and lower benefits, Wood said.

“They’re hiring people in the $8 range and not having to pay people in the $12 range, plus not having to pay the expenses of all those benefits,” he said. “What they’re really doing here is just eliminating older, highly compensated people.”

A Lucky spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the company had not yet seen the lawsuit, which also named Lucky parent American Stores Co.

The plaintiffs contend that they should have been allowed under their union contracts to transfer to the La Habra warehouse without losing their seniority. But when the warehouse opened, the company installed workers from another union and began hiring people off the street.

The Fullerton workers were offered jobs at Lucky food warehouses in Irvine and Buena Park. They would have received the same pay and benefits and additional compensation, but would have had to perform tasks that were more physically demanding, Wood said.

Workers say they were unhappy with their union representation and therefore sought legal help.

But Ed J. Mireles, principal officer of Teamsters Union Local 952, said he spent hundreds of hours negotiating on behalf of the Fullerton warehouse workers. Ultimately, workers had four options when the warehouse closed.

Workers who declined the options have been receiving paychecks and will continue to be paid until the contract expires Sept. 13, Mireles said.

The lawsuit also alleges that the company has for the last decade engaged in “multiple forms of discrimination” that continue.

Among other things, the lawsuit says, the company favored hiring men over women and would sometimes put women in jobs where they were likely to fail and ultimately be terminated. If a woman disagreed with a foreman, the lawsuit alleges, she would be “forced to the loading division as punishment.”

Handicapped employees and minority employees also were targets of discrimination, the lawsuit says.

In one case, an African American employee reportedly was ordered to work in an area enclosed with wire mesh because of a grievance with management. The employee was taunted by management and other employees, according to the lawsuit.

But Wood stressed that the lawsuit revolves largely around the treatment of the workers when the Fullerton warehouse closed.