USC is urging a judge to toss out a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by a longtime executive secretary, arguing that the employee crossed a clear line in a 2022 confrontation on campus. University attorneys say the staffer invited a top administrator to meet him "at the Tommy Trojan" and used language the school viewed as threatening during the exchange.
In court papers filed this week, USC lawyers say the plaintiff, 39-year-old Zachary B. Ellison, asked Vice President Michael Blanton to "meet him at the Tommy Trojan" so they could "talk man to man," which the university characterizes as a "thinly veiled threat of physical violence." The filings also quote Ellison as saying he was "being treated like a slave" and repeatedly telling supervisors he "needed anger management," according to MyNewsLA.
Ellison has publicly pushed back on that narrative. In a detailed personal account on Medium, he describes the August 2022 meeting and says his comments about meeting at the statue were meant as an invitation to address grievances face to face. He writes that "If you have anything to say to me in person — meet me at the Tommy Trojan and we can talk man-to-man." That account is posted by Zachary Ellison on Medium.
The lawsuit and USC's response offer sharply conflicting portraits of Ellison's seven-year run at the university. Ellison says he was hired in October 2015 and fired in August 2022. In his complaint, he alleges he was denied a requested hybrid schedule, required to work through meal breaks without pay, and suffered a panic attack that he links to what he calls a hostile work environment. USC's attorneys dispute the meal and rest break allegations and argue there is "no genuine dispute" that the university lawfully terminated him, according to MyNewsLA.
Blanton serves as the university's vice president for professionalism and ethics, an office that centralizes complaint monitoring and investigations across the campus. USC created that office to standardize its handling of misconduct cases and give employees and students a single reporting channel for sensitive matters, according to USC Today.
What the law requires
Ellison's claims touch on two separate areas of California law. One is disability accommodation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. The other is wage and hour rules that govern meal and rest breaks. The California Civil Rights Department explains that employers must engage in an interactive process to accommodate employees with disabilities. The California Department of Industrial Relations notes that missed meal or rest breaks can trigger premium pay remedies, which are legal issues that could shape whether this case survives a dismissal motion.
For now, the dispute comes down to competing records. USC's motion frames the Tommy Trojan episode as unacceptable conduct that justified firing Ellison. His lawsuit and public posts describe the same events as retaliation and a failure to accommodate his disability. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge will have to sort through those dueling versions of events if the case moves past the university's bid for dismissal.
