Rancho Gordo

Former Worker Sues Legendary Napa-Based Bean Company Rancho Gordo for Discrimination and Wrongful Termination | Eater SF

"A Napa-based heirloom bean purveyor, Rancho Gordo has grown over more than two decades into a food-culture phenomenon: founder Steve Sando set out to introduce more people to heirloom bean varieties, he’s been hailed as a “bean king,” and thousands of people fill a waitlist for the company’s hit bean club. I also report that a former temporary warehouse worker, Martha Martinez, who began as a shipping clerk in November 2019, filed a lawsuit in Napa County Superior Court in July 2021 alleging the company discriminated against her based on “sex, national origin, and pregnancy” and wrongfully terminated her for being pregnant. Martinez says coworkers made derogatory comments about Salvadorans—calling them “very horny” and “like whores”—and that a supervisor participated; both sides agree the comments occurred on a single day when she was first hired, though Martinez says other staff later made comments about her body and how she dressed. According to the lawsuit, Martinez told her supervisor she was pregnant in February 2020, then missed work for a “family emergency” and was told by the supervisor that “Rancho Gordo would not need her anymore,” while later text messages from the supervisor say she was unaware of the pregnancy and was fired for being “absent too frequently.” The company says it ended all temporary work assignments in February 2020 due to the onset of the pandemic and decreased sales, and founder Steve Sando declined to comment to Eater SF." - Lauren Saria