UPDATE: The Nevada State Assemblymen whose business is at the center of a scientology controversy denies his company fired a woman for refusing to take Scientology courses.
"That claim is completely false, yes, absolutely. Just so you know I am a constitutionalist, I like to adhere to the constitution and freedom of religion is a very strong tenant in our constitution," said Nevada State Assemblyman and owner of Real Alkalized Water, Brent Jones.
In her lawsuit, Grecia Echevarria-Hernandez claims Real Alkalized Water had her watch videos with religious undertones based on Scientology. Jones is a Scientologist and admits he does have his employees watch videos, including "The Secret," which was mentioned in the lawsuit, but said they are simply self-help videos and have nothing to do with Scientology or any religion.
Real Water Complaint by Riley Snyder
"We do things to encourage and help our employees develop but nothing with religion whatsoever," said Jones.
Jones thinks this lawsuit has nothing do with religion at all. He feels it's politically motivated.
"We've heard this is the establishment's attempt to take me out because I'm a very vocal critic of the governor's tax," said Jones.
Echevarria-Hernandez's lawyer Joe Gutierrez told us the idea this is politically motivated is completely false. Gutierrez said his firm got the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Equal Rights Commission involved and filed a demand letter back in November in an attempt to get the case settled out of court but never got a response from Real Alkalized Water.
We asked lawmakers about this and got the following response from Assembly Majority Leader Paul Anderson: "For Brent Jones to blame anyone but himself is absurd and laughable. It goes to show Brent's distorted view of reality. "
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- A woman is taking her former bosses to court after she says she was fired for not taking courses on the Church of Scientology.
Grecia Echevarria-Hernandez was hired as a brand ambassador in March of 2015.
According to the complaint filed in district court, she claims Real Alkalized Water had her watch videos with religious undertones based on Scientology.
Echevarria-Hernandez also claims the company told its employees they would get a 25 cent hourly raise for each Scientology course they completed.
The complaint says when she told them she did not want to watch the videos because she is Catholic, people at work begun treating her differently and were hostile towards her.
Echevarria-Hernandez was fired in October 2015 for "poor job performance," but said she was never once written up before.
13 Action News spoke with Echevarria-Hernandez Monday, but she said she and her lawyer are not yet ready to give interviews about the lawsuit.
Our crew also went to the Real Water company headquarters, but were told no one there could speak with us.
