Article from the Bakersfield Californian: March 28, 2011
***
A wrongful termination lawsuit filed by one son of Cesar Chavez against another alleges various instances of malfeasance within an organization central to the legacy of the late civil rights and farm workers union leader.
But the legal action filed in Kern County Superior Court on Friday goes well beyond that, accusing the center’s executive leadership of various misdeeds — including potentially illegal behavior — ranging from retaliatory firings and age-based discrimination to nepotism. It further alleges that Paul Chavez refused to fire an unnamed former business associate accused of stealing $500,000 from the organization. Anthony Chavez alleges that in the years that followed, his brother “created a hostile work environment” for him and other employees, and that he was violent, used profanity against them and “subjected them to undue criticism.” In April 2008, the lawsuit says, Paul Chavez shoved and used profanity against Anthony’s wife, then an employee at NFWSC, and then transferred her out of financial management into the Radio Campesina division.
In what the suit calls an example of his retaliatory actions, harassment and discrimination, Paul Chavez told Anthony in 2009 to fire an employee, Juan Zamora, who had been deposed in a sexual harassment claim against the NFWSC. The suit says Anthony Chavez refused because Zamora was a good employee. The following year, the suit says, Paul Chavez hired a new chief operating officer, Raul Salvador, who fired Zamora as ordered.
A phone attendant at the foundation said Monday that Salvador no longer works within the organization.
The lawsuit also says Anthony Chavez refused his brother’s order to fire two employees who were in their 70s because they were “too old” and “needed to see a mortician.