Worker Alleges She Was Fired for Off-Duty Posts on George Floyd’s Death

Worker Alleges She Was Fired for Off-Duty Posts on George Floyd’s Death

by Contributing Editor

A former account manager for a Van Nuys company that does lab tests of marijuana and hemp is suing her former employer, alleging she was wrongfully fired for speaking out on social media during non-work hours about the May 25 in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Alina Latinsky’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against CannaSafe alleges wrongful termination, retaliation and violation of the state constitution. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit filed Tuesday.

“The Floyd matter was widely condemned, sparking civil disobedience and unrest throughout the United States, and in fact, worldwide, and was the subject of widespread media coverage, protest, commentary and public exchanges on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and similar on-line public platforms,” the suit states.

The suit does not specify the nature of the posts made by Latinsky regarding Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while he was handcuffed and face-down on the street, complaining that he couldn’t breathe.

A CannaSafe representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

Latinsky was hired as an account manager at CannaSafe on March 9 and had a good record with positive feedback about her work, according to her court papers. In early June while off duty, she posted her opinions about the Floyd matter on her Facebook account and responded to comments made by other users, the suit states.

“Plaintiff’s participation in the social media exchange was as a private citizen and was completely unrelated to her employment with CannaSafe,” according to the suit, which says the plaintiff did not mention CannaSafe in her comments.

Latinsky was subsequently told by CannaSafe management that the company was contacted by a person involved in the social media exchange regarding Floyd and that employees of CannaSafe had screen shots of her posts and were discussing them, according to the suit.

Latinsky was put on administrative leave and was subsequently fired June 11 and told it was because of her posts, the suit says. She believes that the justification for her firing amounts to an unlawful retaliatory action that violates the state Labor Code and her rights under the state constitution, according to her court papers.

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All credit goes to Contributing Editor
Originally published on https://mynewsla.com