By Ben Lauren PZ ’25

On August 1, Adan Campos — a former sous chef for Bon Appétit Management Company at Pitzer College — entered Pitzer’s Human Resources (HR) office holding a petition signed by over 70 of his former colleagues with a single demand: That he be granted a fair hiring process as he reapplies to work for Pitzer directly.

Bon Appétit — the catering service whose managers oversee Pitzer’s dining services staff — terminated Campos in February for an expired visa. Despite renewing it less than two months later, alleged false and misleading promises from both the college and its caterer have left him without a job. Now Campos is hoping to return to Pitzer in any capacity, but believes he is facing discrimination in the hiring process.

Campos worked for Pitzer for eight years, eventually becoming one of the school’s lead cooks, the highest position among dining service employees hired directly by Pitzer. During that time he built a strong community, which he described in detail.

“I see them as a family to be honest,” Campos said. “I see them every day. I’m more at work than at home … There’s [students] who graduated years ago, who still hit me up [and ask] … ‘how’s everything going?’ … [Between] students and workers, it’s like a big family.”

During the fall 2022 semester, Bon Appétit offered Campos a promotion to become a sous chef at Pitzer, which he hesitantly accepted.

As dining service managers at Pitzer — which includes sous chefs, the executive chef, the general manager, and the director of operations and catering — are employees of Bon Appétit, Campos would no longer be employed by Pitzer.

That same semester, represented by the labor union UNITE HERE! Local 11, Pitzer’s dining hall and maintenance workers would vote to unionize; however, by becoming a manager, Campos would not be represented by the union.

In December 2023, not enjoying his new role, Campos requested to return to his previous position as a lead cook, but was denied by Bon Appétit and Pitzer on grounds that he was “overqualified.”

“[Pitzer told me that] it wouldn’t be the same [with my old coworkers],” Campos said. “That [my old coworkers] wouldn’t take me back. That I just wouldn’t get along with [them]. That makes no sense. We’ve known each other for eight [years]. We’re like a family.”

Later that month, Campos’ visa expired. According to Campos, he usually renews it two months prior to expiration, but this cycle took five months. 

Bon Appétit allowed Campos to continue working past his visa’s expiration, but in February, they terminated him. He claimed that with him being in the middle of the renewal process, his firing came without warning.

“It was a regular day going into work and boom, [all of a sudden] I got let go,” Campos said. “I was like, ‘what just happened?’ I still gotta pay bills … it just sucks.”

Nevertheless, according to Campos, when he was let go, Bon Appétit claimed they would hold his position for six months while he finished renewing his visa.

Additionally, seeing this as a potential opportunity to return to his original position working directly for Pitzer, he reached out to Deanna Caballero, Pitzer’s associate vice president of human resources.

“[Caballero] said, ‘Oh, we can work something out once you get your problem resolved,’” Campos said. “[But] once I got it fixed … All she said was, ‘Oh, Bon Appétit is hiring … you should apply to them.’”

Caballero did not respond to comment on this allegation. Speaking on her behalf, Pitzer Assistant Vice President of College Communications Wendy Shattuck forwarded the college’s official statement on Campos’ situation.

“Pitzer and our bargaining unit employees’ union have a contractual agreement that outlines specific processes and timelines for hiring, including considerations for internal staff,” Shattuck said in an email to The Outback. “This situation is no exception. While we cannot comment on the specifics of confidential personnel matters, Pitzer is committed to a fair and consistent process for staff while always adhering to the terms of the union agreement.”

Campos also claimed that prior to the close of the six-month window they promised, Bon Appétit filled his position at Pitzer. Bon Appétit — which does catering for schools and corporations throughout Southern California and the country — would rehire him as a sous chef, but he would have to work at another location outside Claremont.

“I don’t want to go somewhere else because, first of all, [I live] 10 minutes away from [Pitzer]. Campos said. “They’d probably send me to Burbank … So that’s like an hour and 30 minutes away from [where I live]. I don’t think it’s fair that I have to drive an hour extra just to go to work.”

Bon Appétit’s Vice President of Communications Jenny Slafkosky declined to comment on Campos’ allegations directly.

“Company policy does not allow us to share information about personnel matters and it would be inappropriate for us to disclose confidential information about a former employee,” Slafkosky said in an email to The Outback. “Along with Pitzer, Bon Appétit respects employees’ right to organize and, as a company, we have a long history of working productively with unions.”

As a result, Campos was left without a job at either Pitzer or Bon Appétit. But determined to stay in his community, Campos was willing to take a demotion, applying directly to Pitzer for a job as a cook.

However, according to Campos, just two days after he submitted his application, he received a rejection. He believed this was again due to being considered “overqualified.”

“When you look at the application, they put so many requirements for the position,” Campos said. “And when you have someone that qualifies for all those things [they go], ‘Oh no, you’re overqualified.’ Isn’t that what you guys want? … It just makes no sense. As a manager, I would want people who are overqualified for the position because it … makes everyone’s job easier.”

Due to this rapid rejection, Campos and many of his former colleagues at Pitzer felt he was being treated unfairly by the school, deciding to put together a petition and delegate it to the college’s HR office. Campos’ petition— demanding fair treatment for his application— received over 70 signatures from current Pitzer employees. Many of these signatories joined him as he spoke to the HR department.

“All [my] coworkers kept asking, … ‘Are you coming back?’” Campos said. “I said, ‘It’s not up to me. It’s up to management.’ So that’s when everyone started getting together and all my coworkers from the union started to get together … And that’s where we are right now.”

During the delegation to HR, Campos spoke with Caballero. He claimed that Caballero pointed to policies in Pitzer’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the union to explain why his application was rejected so quickly.

“Even she was like, ‘we don’t reject applications that fast,’” Campos said. “She made another excuse, saying that … someone from inside already applied for the position, so we have to give them priority. I’m happy [someone] took the position, but they’re not giving me a fair chance to apply.”

Campos further described his suspicions surrounding this explanation given his understanding of the CBA.

“The contract says that they have to [consider] people internally [first], and if no one takes a position within [a certain period of time] it opens up to the public,” Campos said. “So if they posted it to the public, that meant that no one took the position internally.”

Shattuck responded to this claim with the college’s statement quoted in full above. 

Additionally, UNITE HERE Local 11 did not respond to comment on the CBA’s rules on internal hiring.

Ultimately, Campos believes that he is being made to face these barriers because of his former position at Bon Appétit. He claimed both Pitzer and General Manager of Dining Services Miguel Menjivar — an employee of Bon Appétit — simply don’t want a former manager in the kitchen.

“I’m assuming that supposedly, because I was management, I know the way they think, and they see that as a threat,” Campos said. “[But] at the end of the day I’m just there to cook for the students and help them with anything they need.”

Menjivar declined to comment on these allegations,  responding with very similar language to Slafkosky’s statement.

“It would be inappropriate for me to share a former employee’s confidential and personal information; however I can say that at Bon Appétit we respect our team members’ right to organize,” Menjivar said in an email to The Outback.

Neither Pitzer nor Bon Appétit commented directly on this allegation.

As of publication, Campos is currently finding jobs through Instawork, a talent agency for the hospitality business, but he is still hoping to return to Pitzer in any capacity.

On August 1, the Claremont Student-Workers Alliance shared a post on Instagram asking students to email Pitzer HR demanding Campos receive fair consideration for his application.

Campos remains grateful that his workplace community was willing to come together to support him. He praised the camaraderie within the union and the ability of Pitzer’s workers to unite around one another.

“I was happy to be honest; I was surprised too because pretty much all of the employees signed the petition,” Campos said. “That’s crazy because there’s always a few employees that don’t like each other, but in this case pretty much everyone backed me up, you know … It shows you that … apart from what’s going on with me, it’s bringing people together, which is pretty cool, which is what you want.”