Ramirez Files Wrongful Termination Suit Against Panda Restaurant Group Alleging Age Discrimination

Guillermo Ramirez filed Ramirez v. Panda Restaurant Group in California Superior Court, Tulare County, on Feb. 17, 2026, claiming wrongful termination, age discrimination, harassment, retaliation, FMLA violations and wage-and-hour claims. The complaint, as summarized in a Law.com Radar entry, identifies Ramirez as a former general manager with 22 years of service and says he was terminated one day after returning from medical leave in May 2025 following his documentation of a customer harassment incident in April 2025.

The action was brought by Jaurigue Law Group and lists Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. and Does 1 through 50 as defendants. The Law.com Radar metadata for the filing records the case type as Employment - Wrongful Termination and enumerates the claims as Age Discrimination, Discrimination Claims, Employment Claims, Employment Discrimination Claims, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Claim, and Wage and Hour Claims.

The Law.com Radar summary of the complaint states: "Panda Restaurant Group, the parent organization for Asian dining concepts, including the fast-casual chain Panda Express, was hit with an employment discrimination lawsuit on Feb. 17 in California Superior Court for Tulare County. The action, brought by Jaurigue Law Group on behalf of a former general manager with 22 years of service, alleges age discrimination, harassment and retaliation following the plaintiff's documentation of a customer harassment incident in April 2025. According to the complaint, the defendant terminated the plaintiff one day after returning from medical leave in May 2025. The case is Ramirez v. Panda Restaurant Group."

There is no Panda Restaurant Group statement about the Ramirez complaint in the material provided. In separate reporting on an unrelated EEOC enforcement matter, KQED noted that "Panda Express wouldn't talk to us, saying they don't comment on individual cases," a corporate stance the company applied when contacted about a different discrimination suit filed by the EEOC in Northern District of California.

The Tulare County filing arrives against a backdrop of other enforcement actions involving Panda Restaurant Group. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit alleging national-origin bias at a Panda Express restaurant in Saratoga and sought monetary damages, anti-discrimination training and workplace postings; the EEOC included the company profile that Panda Restaurant Group is headquartered in Rosemead, California, and "employs over 18,000 workers companywide at 1,200 locations in 36 states" under brands including Panda Express, Panda Inn and Hibachi-San. EEOC regional attorney Bill Tamayo said, "From our investigation, we concluded that the manager here, who was Asian, was treating the Hispanic workers differently than he was treating the Latino workers, to the detriment of the Latino employees."

Historical enforcement and settlements cited in public records include a 2017 settlement reported as $600,000 related to alleged immigration-document discrimination and a 2013 EEOC consent decree resolving claims of sexual harassment and retaliation in a separate action, entry dated May 30, 2013, in case no. 1:12-cv-00530 with reference to Judge Susan Oki Mollway.

Ramirez v. Panda Restaurant Group is listed as pending in Tulare County Superior Court. The Law.com Radar entry logged the initial complaint on Feb. 17, 2026; the complaint text, docket number and any supporting exhibits were not included in the material provided.