A South Los Angeles CVS supervisor says speaking up about security guards who stood by while shoplifters went to work cost her the job she had spent years building.
Michelle Banegas Hernandez, a longtime employee at the CVS on the 5800 block of South Central Avenue, has filed a lawsuit accusing CVS Pharmacy Inc. and its contracted security firm, Universal Protection Service LP, of firing her after she repeatedly complained about lax security. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages and centers on a theft inside the store and a series of internal complaints that followed.
According to MyNewsLA.com, Hernandez says she was hired in April 2018 and later promoted to supervisor. In her complaint, she alleges wrongful termination, retaliation, negligent supervision and defamation. She claims she repeatedly raised safety concerns, telling managers that on-duty guards “would not help employees during thefts and customer confrontations,” and that one guard later accused her of both bullying and stealing merchandise…