For nearly three decades, Pedro Gasga-Velasco worked as a landscaper for Green Valley Landscaping, owned by Mutsugu Mori, who also operates Hana Gardens in Seaside and its former location in Del Rey Oaks.
According to the complaint filed in December 2025, Mori, who was a direct supervisor of then-57-year-old Gasga-Velasco, allegedly “engaged in a long-standing pattern of targeting and removing older workers, particularly older Mexican employees,” and that Mori “recently terminated nearly all employees in their 40s and 50s as part of his discriminatory campaign,” including Gasga-Velasco in October 2025.
Mori says the allegations are unfounded and that he employs numerous longtime workers over the age of 40. Mori says that he did not fire Gasga-Velasco and that the landscaper quit his position of his own volition following an incident where Gasga-Velasco nearly caused a fire.
Alongside the alleged age discrimination, the complaint states that Mori required all of his landscapers to perform daily physical exercises, including “50 push-ups, karate-style drills, sit-ups and V-holds,” and that if any employees struggled to perform the exercises that “Mori would yell at, belittle or physically manipulate workers whose form he deemed incorrect.”
Mori denies those claims and says that his employees enjoy the morning exercise routine, which he asserts is not mandatory and helps prevent injuries.
In addition, the court documents state that Gasga-Velasco endured racial harassment by Mori, who allegedly said that “Mexicans are not smart,” alongside physical risks associated with unsafe working conditions, which Mori calls “total baloney.”
Gasga-Velasco is seeking damages, back and front pay and a declaration by the court that Mori violated the Fair Employee and Housing Act, California Labor Code and the California Business and Professions Code.
Mori believes the lawsuit will be dismissed. The next hearing is set for Aug. 18 in Monterey County Superior Court.