Students from Thailand and Malaysia are among eight former employees who filed a lawsuit accusing a cafe owner of sexual abuse and exploitation.
Documented NY reports the suit filed by six women and two men against the owner of Marie Eiffel Market on Shelter Island, NY also accuses Eiffel of stealing their wages.
“Instead of providing the advertised once-in-a-lifetime experience, Defendants subjected Plaintiffs to the horror of Marie Eiffel(the owner of the market)…who routinely spanked Plaintiffs on the buttocks, groped female employees’ breasts, choked employees, and made sexually harassing, demeaning, and discriminatory comments about their race and looks,” the lawsuit states.
According to the Shelter Island Reporter, the market hired the workers under the J1 program for foreigners which is intended not only to provide job opportunities and cultural exchange but also temporary assistance for U.S. businesses.
Eiffel told the Reporter she believes one of the plaintiffs whom she accused of stealing from her home instigated the lawsuit. She said she voluntarily provided tips to the workers but that she withheld the tips from the disgruntled employee because he did not fulfill his contract.
She also provided emails from some of her workers who thanked her for the opportunity.
Patch reports the workers are seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages.
All the plaintiffs are students from Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia and Ecuador.
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