La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club facing fourth lawsuit alleging management misconduct

A fourth lawsuit against La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club management has come to light, joining three others from former employees reported last week by the La Jolla Light.

This lawsuit, by former club bartender Monica Carreno, actually was filed before the others, in September 2024 in Superior Court in San Diego. It alleges gender and disability discrimination, wrongful termination, creating a hostile work environment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, failure to pay wages and provide meal periods and more. 

The suit seeks for the club, which is the sole named defendant, to pay compensatory damages, including loss of wages, promotional opportunities, benefits and other opportunities of employment; damages for mental and emotional distress; attorney fees and punitive damages.

The case currently is in arbitration.

The Beach & Tennis Club, a resort at 2000 Spindrift Drive in La Jolla Shores, has been in operation since the 1920s. It also operates The Marine Room restaurant and the La Jolla Shores Hotel.

Club representatives declined to discuss any of the lawsuits, telling the Light that management does not comment on “any private/internal or confidential company matters.” 

According to Carreno’s complaint, she was involved in a car accident in March 2023 and as a result was placed “off work by her doctors until … around September.”

The club agreed to put her on medical leave and have her return with a letter from her doctor when she was cleared to work, the suit says. 

Within days of Carreno coming back, her employment was terminated for what the complaint says were two “common and acceptable” practices at work: giving a cup of soup to a diner to make up for a long wait for an order, and sampling an alcoholic beverage made to replace one that was sent back, “to make sure it was correct.”

The suit contends Carreno “was not written up or warned, she was simply terminated … though she had never been written up in her nine-year career dutifully serving the [La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club].”

The filing alleges “these were pretextual and false reasons for covering up the real reason for plaintiff’s termination — her medical condition, need for medical accommodations and the fact she took medical leave.”

It also alleges that during her employment, the restaurant and bar were “understaffed or managed in such a way that the employees were forced to miss breaks and lunches” and that during busier times of year, “plaintiff and others would work from around 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., often with no breaks or uninterrupted lunch periods.”

The suit claims Carreno was not “properly paid” for that time. 

The three other lawsuits against the club were filed this year. 

One accuses management of gender discrimination and harassment, creating a hostile work environment, failing to prevent harassment and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on former employee Zachary Haunschild, among other complaints. 

The suit seeks damages for mental and emotional distress, back pay, legal fees and more, along with punitive damages “in an amount necessary to make an example of and to punish [the] defendants and deter future similar misconduct.”

The case, which names Amanda Cohen as a co-defendant with the club, is in arbitration.

Soon after Haunschild’s complaint was filed, a female employee who alleged she was sexually assaulted by another employee while at work also filed suit. She is identified in the document only by the initials S.L.

The suit, which names Austin Miller as a co-defendant with the club, seeks damages for mental and emotional distress, legal fees and more, plus punitive damages. A jury trial is scheduled for March.

Another lawsuit, filed by former employee Adam McHugh, alleges failure to provide “legally compliant” meal and rest periods, pay minimum, straight-time and overtime wages, pay wages upon termination, provide accurate itemized wage statements and maintain required time records.

It seeks “general unpaid wages and such general and special damages as may be appropriate, pre-judgment interest on any unpaid compensation commencing from the date such amounts were due,” attorney fees, court costs and more.

The suit does not name other defendants besides the club. An arbitration hearing is set for February.