SAN RAMON, Calif. (KGO) — A 72-year-old former Bay Area Home Depot employee is suing the retailer for age discrimination and wrongful termination after she was fired for failing to prevent $5,000 in fraudulent transactions. The incident occurred at the San Ramon Home Depot three months after a theft prevention worker was shot and killed at a Home Depot in Pleasanton while trying to prevent a theft attempt.

Carleen Acevedo was fired from Home Depot last July for “creating a risk of safety or loss,” according to her termination letter. She says she felt scared and intimidated by the person at her checkout who paid with a suspicious card.

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“You are phenomenal in every way. We are grateful to have you,” Acevedo said.

Carleen Acevedo says she has won several awards for exceptional service during her seven years as a cashier at the San Ramon Home Depot, including the 2021 Cashier of the Year award.

“I loved working there,” Acevedo said.

But last July, Acevedo was fired from Home Depot after making four fraudulent transactions that cost Home Depot more than $5,000.

“I was so upset, I just wanted to get out of there. I had never been fired before,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo says she was working alone at the garden center when a man came to her register with a card with instructions on the back to make the transaction in cash. She paid just over $1,300.

“I just had a weird feeling about it and the card was suspicious, very suspicious, but I checked it anyway,” Acevedo said.

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About 30 minutes later, she says, the customer came back.

“And then I knew for sure that he was after me because I was alone,” she continued.

Acevedo says she tried calling her supervisor, the head cashier, but no one answered.

“He was demanding and wanted the transaction to be completed as quickly as possible,” Acevedo said. “He got angry when I called my manager.”

“I was scared,” she continued.

According to her termination letter, Acevedo made three more separate cash transactions, this time for more than $4,000.

She says she kept duplicate copies of the receipts and presented them to her manager.

“Four days later, I was fired,” Acevedo said.

The incident came three months after Blake Mohs, a loss prevention officer at Pleasanton Home Depot, was shot while trying to prevent a theft attempt – a story Acevedo was familiar with.

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“It was devastating, I mean, it was sad,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo says that as a Home Depot employee, she received annual computer-based training on what to do in the event of a shoplifting or shooting.

“I was told not to do anything. Not to approach, not to touch, not to try to dissuade her or interfere, but to just let her go,” she said.

“She did everything she could. She asked for backup. She made copies of the receipt. She knows she can’t risk her life for merchandise and that employees are specifically taught not to risk their lives for merchandise,” said Chambord Benton-Hayes, Acevedo’s attorney.

Benton-Hayes also questions the timing of her termination. According to the lawsuit, Acevedo learned six months earlier that a new teenage employee had a starting salary of $21 an hour. Acevedo, who was 70 at the time and had worked at Home Depot for seven years, was making $20.17 an hour. She complained and received a $2 raise the following month.

“They just wanted an excuse to fire her,” Benton-Hayes said. “As soon as she complained, she was fired within a few months.”

A Home Depot spokesperson told the I-Team via email, “I cannot discuss ongoing litigation.”

“I lost so much. I lost my health insurance. My health deteriorated because of it. I had trouble finding work and my rent payments were in question,” Acevedo said.

Acevedo says it took a while, but she was able to find a new part-time job.

“It was a devastating emotional experience,” Acevedo said.

Benton-Hayes says as part of her evidence gathering, she will try to obtain surveillance video from the store, as well as any employee manuals or instructions that may be in place that provide insight into what to do in such a situation.

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