Apollo says Cardenas women are not telling the truth
Cardenas Markets, owned by Apollo Fund IX, fired pastry worker Valeria Alvarez on April 11, 2023, a month after she filed a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging sexual harassment and retaliation for reporting sexual harassment.
When Ms. Alvarez told the Louisiana Teachers Retirement Board in person what happened to her, Joanna Reiss, Apollo’s Co-Head of Impact Investing, went to the microphone and said that Ms. Alvarez and a second worker’s stories “simply are not true.”
The EEOC found that Cardenas terminated the store manager from his job after the company investigated Ms. Alvarez’ sexual harassment allegations against him. On May 3, 2024, Ms. Alvarez filed suit against Cardenas Markets alleging claims under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act of sexual harassment and retaliation for reporting sexual harassment after the EEOC issued her a right-to-sue letter.
Hear Ms. Alvarez tell her story to CalPERS, another Apollo investor. (Translation follows her 2-minute public comment.)
The second story dismissed by Ms. Reiss is about Rosalba Martinez, a bakery worker in a different Cardenas Markets store. Listen as Ms. Martinez briefly tells the CalSTRS Board how Cardenas terminated her after she was ill at work. According to Ms. Martinez, the store manager asked her to take a drug test and a pregnancy test. (Translation follows her 2-minute public comment.)
Apollo told investors not to believe Cardenas women’s complaints and says they were terminated appropriately. Ms. Reiss:
“When I first heard the stories you were just told, my reaction was probably the same as you had. I was horrified.”
“Coming out of these [company] investigations, it is my understanding based on that work done that they simply are not true.”
“However, there was not a pregnancy test requested of an employee… It didn’t happen.”
Ms. Joanna Reiss, Apollo Co-Head of Impact Investing, June 1, 2023