Did Raising Covid-19 Concerns Lead to a California Woman's Wrongful Termination?

When the ad agency she worked for introduced a cruise line campaign amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Tiffani Harcrow was concerned. As a responsible employee and human being, she voiced those concerns. For doing so, Harcrow claims she was fired. 

Omelet Ad Agency Faces Wrongful Termination Lawsuit:

Tiffani Harcrow is a former employee of Omelet, an ad agency out of Culver City, California. Harcrow claims she was fired because she voiced her concerns about the agency's upcoming campaign to promote Princess Cruise Lines as "safe for travel" amid the pandemic. She didn't feel comfortable with the way the project minimized the risk of Covid-19, and felt it would be wrong to take part in the Princess Cruise Line ad campaign because it was misleading. Harcrow was fired in May 2020.

Harcrow Alleges Various Employment Law Violations:

The Plaintiff in the case, Harcrow, is 33 years old and was hired in May 2018 to fill the Associative Creative Director position at Omelet. During her time on the job, she received "glowing" work evaluations, and was regularly described as an all-star receiving praise from top professionals in the creative industry. Harcrow is now suing Omelet, her former employer and Culver City ad agency, alleging wrongful termination, retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and unfair business practices. Harcrow's suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Harcrow claims she was wrongfully terminated in May 2020 because she voiced her concerns questioning the honesty of the Princess Cruise Lines assignment at Omelet LLC and vocalized concerns that the campaign actively minimized the potential health threat of coronavirus. 

Retaliation for Voicing Concerns About the Misleading Campaign:

The retaliation Harcrow allegedly experienced in response to making her concerns about the project clear are classic whistleblower retaliation. In this particular instance, the whistleblower retaliation took place amid a worldwide crisis when an unprecedented virus swept the globe creating a global (deadly) health pandemic. Omelet did not respond to the media's request for comment after Harcrow filed suit, and Princess Cruises is not listed as a defendant in the case. 

Standing Up to Unreasonable Demands in the Workplace:

In April, when Omelet insisted that Harcrow lead her team in developing what she claims was a "materially false" Princess Cruise Lines marketing campaign that would be both misleading and dangerous amidst the global pandemic, she couldn't do it. The agency insisted they wanted her to create an aggressive marketing campaign that she saw as obviously designed to mislead consumers and create the misleading impression that it would be safe to travel on Princess Cruise ships on June 30th, even though evidence did not support this claim in any way. An ad agency briefing from April 22nd, 2020 spells out the client's own alleged objective to mislead their target market into believing the cruise ships were safe for travel. At that same time, Harcrow and other employees at Omelet ad agency knew official government agencies were already investigating the alleged failure of the cruise industry to protect passenger and cruise staff safety amid the pandemic. On March 14th, U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued a no-sail order that suspended all cruise line operations for 30 days. The following month, the no-sail directive was renewed through July 24th, 2020. While all evidence seemed to support Harcrow's concerns, he agency stood by their decision to urge the public to accept the cruise line as safe for travel. When Harcrow disagreed, she was allegedly terminated from her position.

If you need to discuss employment law violations in the workplace or file a wrongful termination lawsuit, please get in touch with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in any one of various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.