Former Registrar Drops Lawsuit Against South Bay Private School

A former registrar at the private Chadwick School in the South Bay has dropped her lawsuit in which she said she was forced to resign due to retaliation.

Chadwick School is a private K-12 campus in an unincorporated area of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Former registrar Christe Greco's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit had alleged violations of the state Labor Code by the school, and said the backlash against her was related to her complaints about not receiving overtime for work outside her regular hours and for being denied meal and rest breaks.

Greco's court papers do not state if she is dropping the case due to a settlement or for other reasons. However, the court papers do state that the request for dismissal to Judge Daniel Crowley is ``with prejudice,'' meaning the case can't be refiled.

In December, the plaintiff and defendant underwent mediation and later filed joint papers in which they said they'd continue mediation efforts.

In earlier pleadings, Chadwick attorneys denied Greco's
allegations and contended that the plaintiff was paid for all work done.

Greco was hired in 2015 and promoted to registrar in 2021, a job which she said turned out to be different than a typical registrar in that she was routinely given work that was impractical to complete during a typical weekday schedule, so she regularly worked more than 40 hours, including evenings and weekends.

The school administration allegedly responded to Greco's complaints about the alleged labor violations by retaliating against the plaintiff and her husband, who also worked at Chadwick, by not admitting their daughter to Chadwick on grounds that the incoming class had ``too many girls.''

While admission is not guaranteed to children of Chadwick employees, it is routinely offered to those who work there and is one of the most desirable benefits of doing so, according to the suit filed in July 2024, three months after she wrote a letter to the administration regarding her decision to quit.

``Thus, while I would have liked to continue my employment, the current intolerable circumstances leave me with no choice but to resign from my position,'' Greco wrote.

Greco said her husband also quit in frustration that he was passed over for promotion in favor of a less-qualified person from outside the school.

City News Service contributed to this report.