When Specialty Restaurants Corp. (SRC) hired Alberto Pinero as general manager of Luminarias in Monterey Park, Pinero had an age bias lawsuit pending against his former employer that he didn’t tell SRC about. When SRC’s chief executive learned about the suit, he tried to persuade Pinero to drop it on the grounds that it was frivolous, but Pinero refused, saying it was a private matter. From then on, Pinero was repeatedly criticized at work—but wasn’t fired, demoted, or transferred and didn’t lose any benefits—and he eventually resigned. Now a California appeals court has rejected Pinero’s claim that SRC retaliated against him for pursuing a bias action against the other employer. Minor work criticisms are at most a “minimal inconvenience” and don’t rise to the level of an adverse action as required for a retaliation claim, the court said.1
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1 Pinero v. Speciality Restaurants Corp., Calif. Court of Appeal (2nd Dist.) No. B177111, 2005