Law360 has written an in-depth article about the latest lawsuit filed by Teukolsky Law against the Freehand Hotel, located in downtown Los Angeles, on behalf of a hotel housekeeper alleging sexual harassment (subject to paywall).  According to the article, "Edith Gutu says she has repeatedly asked managers at the trendy hotel to prevent men from entering the restrooms, located next to the rooftop bar and the lobby bar, when she is cleaning them. But she has not been given a sign she can place by the door, or a means of locking the restrooms from the inside, according to her complaint against the Freehand Hotel's owner, Sydell Hostel Manager LLC."  The article quoted Ms. Gutu as saying: “I should not have to work in circumstances like this. . . . Today, I have decided to break my own silence. I am doing this not only for myself, but so that all women who work in our industry can work with the dignity and respect we deserve.”

Read the full article here.

Teukolsky Law filed a new lawsuit yesterday on on behalf of a female housekeeper at the boutique Freehand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles alleging that she experienced sexual harassment while she cleaned the men’s restrooms located next to the hotel bars. According to the complaint, the hotel's rooftop bar is a “destination for partygoers,” which features loud music and the smell of marijuana smoke. On Friday and Saturday nights, according to the complaint, the bar takes on a “raucous ‘party’ atmosphere” where guests are often visibly intoxicated and stumbling into the bathroom. 

Plaintiff Edith Gutu is a 44-year old woman who has worked as a housekeeper at the Freehand since March 2018. She frequently cleans the men’s restrooms near the hotel bars on Friday and Saturday nights. She has repeatedly asked management to allow her to close the men’s restroom while she cleans, but they have refused. As a result, Ms. Gutu alleges that she has regularly been exposed to men’s genitals as they use the urinals while she cleans. She also alleges that she feels trapped inside the restroom stall when men enter and start urinating.  Ms. Gutu alleges that she has been subject to unwelcome conduct from male guests, including being called a “fucking bitch, fucking Mexican,” or words to that effect, by a male guest she asked to wait outside the restroom until she was done cleaning.

Ms. Gutu alleges that she has repeatedly asked Freehand management to let her transfer to the day shift, but they have refused. Even though there are other male staff who could be assigned to clean the men’s restroom, the complaint alleges that Freehand management has not permitted Ms. Gutu to change shifts with them, nor allowed her to close the restroom while she cleans. Instead, after she complained about being exposed to inappropriate guest conduct, management allegedly told her it was “part of [her] job.”  

Teukolsky Law also represents Leticia Vallejo, a Marriott housekeeper who similarly alleges that she experienced sexual harassment from male guests while she was required to clean the men’s restroom next to a hotel bar. Like the Freehand Hotel, the Marriott allegedly refused to allow Ms. Vallejo to close the men’s restroom while she cleaned. Ms. Vallejo’s lawsuit is pending in Superior Court in Orange County and is in the discovery phase.

Under California law, employers have an obligation to protect their employees from sexual harassment by third parties, including customers. If you believe that you have been sexually harassed, contact us today for a free consultation.

Earlier today, Teukolsky Law filed a new sexual harassment lawsuit on behalf of Joey Dalla Betta (pronouns: they/them) against Flaunt Magazine, its CEO Luis Barajas and Editor-in-Chief Matthew Bedard. Barajas founded Los Angeles-based Flaunt in 1998 after a 10-year stint running Detour, a well-known fashion and entertainment magazine.  Flaunt covers have featured many high-profile actors and musicians such as Beyoncé, Brad Pitt and Kanye West.  Barajas, who is in his mid-50s, hired Dalla Betta as his executive assistant in July 2018.  Dalla Betta alleges that Barajas and Bedard ran the magazine based on a culture of fear and intimidation, where advancement was based on a willingness to submit to repeated sexual advances and endure a non-stop barrage of sexual banter.  Young aspiring writers like Dalla Betta were scared to complain or quit because jobs in the magazine industry are so rare.  (Joey Dalla Betta, pictured left. Photo credit: Lucy-Bleu Knight.)

VICE News ran a piece covering the filing of the lawsuit.  As described in the piece, "At first, Dalla Betta thought that the expectations and behavior at Flaunt were normal in the journalism industry. They poured themselves into Flaunt, often working through weekends. At times, it felt like even the boundaries between Dalla Betta and the magazine itself had dissolved, because they felt the successes and failures of the magazine so intimately."

If you have experienced sexual harassment, contact Teukolsky Law today for a free consultation.

On March 15, 2019, Lauren Teukolsky spoke at a Bridgeport Continuing Education conference on the latest trends in litigation under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).  Ms. Teukolsky was featured on a panel discussing settlement and arbitration issues.  With the prevalence of arbitration agreements and class action waivers, PAGA has emerged as one of the only vehicles for employees to bring collective actions on behalf of a group of employees in court.  Ms. Teukolsky discussed the future of PAGA, predicting that the United States Supreme Court will take up the issue of the arbitrability of PAGA in the next five years.  She also discussed how courts are dealing with settlement of PAGA claims given the lack of guidance in the PAGA statute.  

If you believe that your employer has not paid you all of the wages you are owed, contact Teukolsky Law today for a free consultation.

The Los Angeles Times has quoted Teukolsky Law founder and owner Lauren Teukolsky discussing the firm's latest sexual harassment lawsuit against Marriott Hotel.  The case highlights an employer's duty to protect employees from customers who sexually harass them.

Teukolsky Law has filed a new lawsuit against the Marriott Hotel in Irvine, California on behalf of a hotel worker who was sexually harassed and assaulted by male customers in the bathroom she was required to clean as part of her job.  On one occasion while she was cleaning the restroom, the complaint alleges, an intoxicated male guest pressed his genitals against her and offered her $50.  When she complained to management, her supervisor joked that he should have offered her $100.  Her complaint alleges that the hotel refused to provide her with a sign closing the restroom for cleaning, requiring her to clean the restroom while men urinated and exposed themselves in front of her.  Her attorney, Lauren Teukolsky, was quoted in Bloomberg news, saying, “The hotel has placed her in this obviously dangerous and untenable situation. . . . She herself was powerless. She couldn’t decline to clean the restroom.”

California law imposes a duty on employers to protect their employees from sexual harassment not only by supervisors and co-workers, but also third parties like hotel customers.  If you believe that you have been sexually harassed, contact Teukolsky Law today for a free consultation.

Teukolsky Law founder Lauren Teukolsky was quoted in a Courthouse News story on the Private Attorneys General Act ("PAGA"), a California law that allows private attorneys to stand in the shoes of the State to bring labor enforcement actions against employers who break the law.  PAGA is under attack by a consortium of businesses that are suing to have PAGA declared unconstitutional.  Teukolsky Law represents a group of 57 nurses who have sued a Tenet-owned hospital in Templeton, CA for labor violations, including failing to provide rest breaks because the hospital was understaffed and the nurses did not want to leave their patients unattended. 

Nine of the nurses have brought a PAGA action in San Luis Obispo Superior Court to represent all nurses at the hospital because they all signed arbitration agreements requiring them to bring their claims in secret, private arbitration proceedings.  Courts currently allow employees to bring PAGA claims in open court, even if they have signed arbitration agreements.  The arbitration agreements the nurses signed contain class action waivers, which means that the nurses are not allowed to bring an action to represent all of the nurses with similar claims at the hospital -- except through PAGA. 

​If business groups are successful in having PAGA declared unconstitutional, this could greatly impair the ability of employees to vindicate their workplace rights.  Teukolsky Law will continue to fight every day for the rights of employees against powerful business lobbies that seek to take away their rights.  If you believe that your rights have been violated, contact us today for a free consultation.

Teukolsky Law client Jasmin Sanchez discussed her experience of being sexually harassed while working at Terranea Resort on NBC News last night.  Ms. Sanchez's complaint alleges that a supervisor sent her sexually explicit text messages and ultimately groped her in the Uniform Department office where she worked.  Watch the NBC News video here.

If you have been sexually harassed or sexually assaulted, contact Teukolsky Law today for a free consultation.

​The Guardian has published a hard-hitting article featuring two Teukolsky Law clients, Sandra Pezqueda and Jasmin Sanchez.  They both formerly worked at the ritzy Terranea Resort, an upscale hotel in Rancho Palos Verdes overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  The article describes "a culture that has enabled sexual harassment and sexual assault" at Terranea.  Ms. Pezqueda's sexual harassment case settled earlier this year for $250,000.  She was named a TIME Person of the Year in 2017 as one of the "Silence Breakers." 

​Ms. Sanchez's sexual harassment case was filed in July 2018 and is in active litigation.  Ms. Sanchez alleges that a security supervisor watched her over the hotel security cameras and sent her sexually explicit text messages.  Ms. Sanchez alleges that she complained to Human Resources, which took no action, and that Mr. Harrington later groped her while at work.

If you have experienced sexual harassment or sexual assault, contact Teukolsky Law today for a free consultation.

Today, the California Senate voted to approve AB 3080, a bill that would prohibit employers from requiring their employees to arbitrate employment-related claims against their employers. Under current law, employers can require their employees to sign arbitration agreements as a condition of employment.  Arbitration is a private court system without judges and juries.  Instead, arbitrators -- usually retired judges -- are paid to adjudicate claims.  Arbitrations are usually confidential, and held in hotel conference rooms or other private locations.  If the bill becomes law, employers in California will no longer be allowed to require employees to give up their right to go to court.  Instead, employees will be able to sue their employers in court for discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment, and a host of other claims that employees can bring under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act, one of the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the country.  Employers will also be prohibited from requiring employees to arbitrate wage-and-hour claims under the California Labor Code.

Governor Brown has until September 30 to sign or veto the bill.  If he signs AB 3080 into law, it will almost certainly be challenged by employers as contrary to the Federal Arbitration Act, a federal law which expresses a preference for cases to be resolved through private arbitration.  Nonetheless, today's Senate vote is a huge win for employees.  Many of our clients have no idea that they have signed arbitration agreements giving up their rights to sue their employers in court.  Forced arbitration agreements are contrary to American values, and should be ended.