Press Release--March 7, 2023--Dahua Technology USA, Inc.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Olsen Law Offices announced on March 4, 2023 that it has filed a civil action against Dahua Technology USA, Inc. Dahua Technology USA, Inc. is a surveillance technology company that is partly owned by the Chinese government.

The employee alleges the following: Dahua has policies against terminating employees who seek to take leave under the California Family Rights Act or the Family and Medical Leave Act.  The former employee alleges that his mother suffered a stroke and was not able to afford the medical care she needed within the U.S. The employee opted to take time off to travel with his mother to Taiwan where she could receive medical care.  The employee was fully within his rights to take time off to help his mother without fear of retaliation. Nonetheless, the very same day the employee was to begin family leave, Dahua assigned over a dozen new projects to the employee. After the employee returned to work, Dahua’s managers set meetings concerning the employee’s projects but intentionally omitted the employee from attending those meetings. In fact, the employee did not even know of those meetings until a co-worker told the employee. Dahua’s managers would assign the employee tasks, then tell the employee those tasks were no longer his responsibility only to later accuse the employee of failing to complete those tasks. The employee alleges that Dahua knew these performance issues were false and defamatory. Nonetheless, Dahua terminated the employee under the false pretext that his work performance was not satisfactory.

The employee’s complaint identifies seven (7) causes of action: 1) Violation of Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”); 2) Retaliation for Exercising Rights Under FMLA; 3) Violation of the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”); 4) Retaliation for Exercising Rights under CFRA; 5) Wrongful Termination in Violation of Public Policy; 6) Defamation; and 7) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress. The termination and the events leading up to the termination caused the employee to suffer immense stress and a feeling of helplessness. Despite having handled the responsibility of two job titles and nothing but positive reviews prior to taking medical leave, the employee began to doubt his own abilities. The employee suffered sleepless nights, which caused him to feel fatigue and drowsiness during the day. Moreover, the termination based on false pretenses has caused him to suffer harm to his reputation and will almost certainly have a negative impact on future opportunities. The employee is seeking to recover past wages, future wages, and compensation for emotional distress. Moreover, the employee seeks to recover punitive damages to ensure that Dahua does not repeat these acts with other employees in the future.

Dahua has not yet filed a response to these allegations. Olsen Law Offices expects that Dahua will deny the allegations set forth above. Olsen Law Offices expects that Dahua will assert it has caused the employee no harm and that it is not responsible for any injuries the employee may have suffered.

About Olsen Law Offices, APC: Olsen Law Offices specializes in employment litigation in all areas of employment law. Olsen Law Offices has extensive experience litigating matters concerning wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment and hostile work environment, work place defamation, gender discrimination, race discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and disability discrimination. Moreover, Olsen Law Offices has extensive experience in wage and hour cases as single-employee cases, class actions, and actions under the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”).