09/30/2012 // San Francisco, CA, USA // Keller Grover LLP // San Francisco lawyer Eric Grover // (press release)
San Francisco, CA — A former Wells Fargo mortgage consultant has filed an employment lawsuit in Palm Beach County, Florida alleging that he was fired because his dying daughter needed expensive cancer treatment, reports Eric Grover, a Bay Area employment lawyer.
According to the lawsuit, the former Wells Fargo mortgage consultant Yovany Gonzales was terminated from his job just three days before his daughter Mackenzie was scheduled to undergo cancer surgery in August 2010, the Huffington Post revealed. Due to Gonzales’ termination his health insurance with United Health Care was also canceled, causing the hospital to cancel her surgery.
Sadly, Mackenzie lost her battle with cancer in March 2011.
The lawsuit asserts that prior to Gonzales’ termination, Wells Fargo and United Health Care asked Gonzalez’s wife “numerous questions” about Mackenzie’s treatment and made “several references … to the costs of her treatment.” The suit further alleges that his employer was looking for reasons to fire him around that same time period.
Wells Fargo claims that they fired Gonzales because he allegedly had falsified his time records, although his supervisor had recorded the time records and stated that it was okay that he couldn’t always remember the exact hours he had actually worked, the suit asserts.
The lawsuit also alleges that Wells Fargo did not supply Gonzales with information about how to continue his family’s life insurance coverage in a timely manner, which was promised to him after he was fired from his position. This led to the termination of the life insurance coverage for his children, and caused Gonzales to lose the life insurance compensation for Mackenzie’s death. Additionally, he was not supplied the health insurance extension information required under COBRA law for more than 90-days.
Wells Fargo released a statement concerning the litigation, which read: “While we’re very sympathetic to Mr. Gonzalez for his personal loss, his termination was unrelated to the allegations included in the lawsuit,” said Bridget Braxton, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo, in a statement. “We intend to vigorously defend the matter in court. We support and value our team members and our employment practices are in alignment with that focus.”
“This is certainly a sad and unfortunate circumstance and, if the allegations are true, one that could have been easily avoided if Wells Fargo would have provided this family with the necessary information to continue their life insurance and health coverage,” explains Eric Grover, a San Francisco employment lawyer.
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