EL CAJON, Calif. (CN) - A Southern Californian nurse is taking one of the largest health care companies in the world to court for claims she was wrongfully fired for having stickers that read "Israel is committing genocide in Gaza" and "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea" on her water bottle.

At a press conference in El Cajon, California, at the city's Arab community center on Wednesday, Lauren Gaw explained how she had collected the stickers at various protests after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli towns.

The stickers were a simple act of solidarity with the Palestinian people, she added. 

Gaw - who worked as a nurse at the Outpatient Surgery Center of La Jolla, which is owned by UnitedHealth Group - says in her complaint filed in San Diego federal court on Wednesday that she didn't try to engage coworkers in debates about current events. But in January 2024, a coworker approached her about one sticker, saying it upset people, she claims.

Gaw claims she then left one water bottle with one sticker on it at home, but brought another bottle with another sticker instead. She says her supervisors called her into a meeting a month later where she was told her stickers were considered harassment. She claims she was fired days later for behavior that "did not align with [SCA Health's] values." Later, she received a letter that cited her reason for termination as "violation of a company policy or rule." 

Before she was fired, she had never been reprimanded for negative job performance or been disciplined for any reason, Gaw writes in her complaint.

"Being in this situation, sometimes I have to take a step back and look at how ridiculous a situation it is. I was fired for having stickers on my water bottle that opposed the murder of Palestinian people," Gaw said on Wednesday. "This is not only illegal but absurd that my former employer would fire me simply because they didn't like stickers on my water bottle. Speaking up against genocide shouldn't make you lose your job, but more importantly, genocide shouldn't happen. Trying to silence me is in turn trying to silence the stories coming out of Gaza."

Gaw claims her former employer violated multiple California labor laws that protects workers from their bosses trying to stifle their political speech or adopting policies that prevent employees from participating in political affairs or controls their political activities or affiliations.  

Her former employer, she adds in her complaint, discriminated against her based on their perception that because of her support for Palestinians, she herself was "associated with Palestinian, Arab and/or Muslim communities." She says her former employers' actions were "informed by pernicious and pejorative stereotypes" about those communities. 

While her coworkers had stickers expressing their support for other political causes, none, to her knowledge, had been disciplined, Gaw added. The coworkers that accosted her were allowed to berate her for her opinions, but they also were not reprimanded when they expressed their own opinions, she added. 

Christopher Ho, an attorney for Legal Aid at Work, and Gaw's attorney, said his firm had taken on similar cases of employers striking out at workers expressing their solidarity with the Palestinian people at work, especially workers critical of tech companies working with Israeli intelligence and military.

Those cases are mostly litigated in administrative agencies, not in federal court. Gaw's case is the first Palestinian solidarity case his firm has filed in federal court, Ho added. 

"The right of the people to speak freely in this country is under assault in many ways most of us would have thought unimaginable less than a year ago," Ho said. "If we have to think twice before we express our opinions on political matters that concern us all, our democracy is in serious trouble."

Gaw and all workers under California law have the right to express their political opinions, he added.    

Although she's found a new job in nursing, Gaw said she's still scared to bring a water bottle expressing her opinions on current events into work. 

"I will never stop talking about Palestine. Everyone should feel responsible about what's happening across occupied Palestine because it is our tax dollars that funds it. It is our silence that allows it to continue," she added. 

Last week the Gaza Health Ministry said 55,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli assault on the region since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas and other militant groups killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and abducted 251 as hostages. Late last year, the NGO Amnesty International concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Gaw is asking the court for a declaratory judgement that rules her former employers violated her rights to express her political opinions, an award of back pay and loss of employment benefits, civil penalties and compensatory damages. 

UnitedHealth Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: Courthouse News Service