While at CCOLA Jay provided social work and case management services to adults and children struggling with homelessness through the agency s contract with the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA), the suit states.
Jay worked at CCOLA s Good Shepherd Center under the supervision of a program manager who required the plaintiff to sign inaccurate timesheets falsely reflecting that she was taking the same half-hour lunch every day, according to the suit.
Jay also was denied overtime pay as well as uninterrupted meal or rest breaks, and she was not reimbursed for mileage costs for work-related driving, the suit states.
A month after she was hired, Jay began to talk about complaints from homeless clients about stolen food and personal items as well as a general lack of property protection, the suit states. Jay also told management that clients told her they were being returned to the community without adequate resources, according to the suit.
By City News Service
Close-up Of Gavel And Justice Scale
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A former social worker for Catholic Charities of Los Angeles Inc. who helped the homeless, is suing the organization, alleging officials there ignored her complaints about work conditions and that she temporarily lacked a roof over her head when she left her job in 2017.
Katie Jay s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges retaliation and constructive discharge. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the complaint filed Thursday.
A CCOLA representative did not reply to a request for comment.
Jay was hired in November 2016 and graduated from USC s master s in social work program, the suit states. Jay spent five years as a child in a homeless shelter and her family was assisted by Catholic Charities in the Oakland area, leading her to seek employment with the organization, according to the suit.