Ex-Employees Sue Local Salvation Army
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Two lawsuits, for $2 million each, were filed last week against Warsaw's Salvation Army Thrift Store and Lt. Jeffrey Horn, director of The Salvation Army in Warsaw.
Dolores Garza, Warsaw, and Hilda Amador, Winona Lake, filed complaints in U.S. District Court in South Bend, charging Horn and the Salvation Army with discrimination based on age and national origin.
Amador, 54, and Garza, 50, claim they were both discharged from their positions at the thrift store on Feb. 9, 1996. Their complaints said they were dismissed without notice and without just cause, and that they had "never had job performance problems and had never been written up."
"Every one of their charges is absurd," Horn said this morning.
The women were dismissed based on their performances, he said. They filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and their complaints were dismissed within nine days, Horn added.
"The store has more than doubled its income since their dismissals," Horn said.
Amador, who managed the thrift store at the time of her dismissal, had worked there since May 1981. Garza, the assistant manager, had been employed by the thrift store since the fall of 1977.
Both women also said they are of Mexican/Hispanic national origin. After their dismissal, their complaints allege they were replaced by workers who were under age 40 and who were "American/White."
They also said that a third employee, who was non-Hispanic and under age 40, was not discharged.
Both women claim they were unjustly discriminated against based on their age and national origin. They are asking for back pay, future earnings, pension adjustments and attorney fees.
Each woman also is asking for $2 million in "compensatory damages for mental anguish, personal suffering, professional embarrassment and public humiliation."
Both complaints say charges also were filed with Indiana's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, but neither organization would confirm or deny that report.
The purpose of The Salvation Army's thrift store is to provide low-cost merchandise to anyone in the community without discrimination, Horn said. Any income over expenses is used to serve the community.
Amador and Garza would not comment on the case.
The legal secretary for The Salvation Army Central Territory offices in Des Plaines, Ill., is on vacation and will not be available for comment until Monday. [[In-content Ad]]
Two lawsuits, for $2 million each, were filed last week against Warsaw's Salvation Army Thrift Store and Lt. Jeffrey Horn, director of The Salvation Army in Warsaw.
Dolores Garza, Warsaw, and Hilda Amador, Winona Lake, filed complaints in U.S. District Court in South Bend, charging Horn and the Salvation Army with discrimination based on age and national origin.
Amador, 54, and Garza, 50, claim they were both discharged from their positions at the thrift store on Feb. 9, 1996. Their complaints said they were dismissed without notice and without just cause, and that they had "never had job performance problems and had never been written up."
"Every one of their charges is absurd," Horn said this morning.
The women were dismissed based on their performances, he said. They filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and their complaints were dismissed within nine days, Horn added.
"The store has more than doubled its income since their dismissals," Horn said.
Amador, who managed the thrift store at the time of her dismissal, had worked there since May 1981. Garza, the assistant manager, had been employed by the thrift store since the fall of 1977.
Both women also said they are of Mexican/Hispanic national origin. After their dismissal, their complaints allege they were replaced by workers who were under age 40 and who were "American/White."
They also said that a third employee, who was non-Hispanic and under age 40, was not discharged.
Both women claim they were unjustly discriminated against based on their age and national origin. They are asking for back pay, future earnings, pension adjustments and attorney fees.
Each woman also is asking for $2 million in "compensatory damages for mental anguish, personal suffering, professional embarrassment and public humiliation."
Both complaints say charges also were filed with Indiana's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission, but neither organization would confirm or deny that report.
The purpose of The Salvation Army's thrift store is to provide low-cost merchandise to anyone in the community without discrimination, Horn said. Any income over expenses is used to serve the community.
Amador and Garza would not comment on the case.
The legal secretary for The Salvation Army Central Territory offices in Des Plaines, Ill., is on vacation and will not be available for comment until Monday. [[In-content Ad]]