Comme des Garçons is Skirting Wage, Labor, Medical Depart & Immigration Legal guidelines, Per Former HR Employee’s Lawsuit

In October, Comme des Garçons was named in an ugly lawsuit in which a former HR employee accused the famous fashion company of engaging in a program of visa fraud, working conditions violations and retaliation. The lawsuit, which looked like it would end in a quick and quiet default judgment after the CdG failed to respond to the complaint in a timely manner, has since surfaced again, with the 52-year-old French fashion company arguing that it did not Having knowledge of the case against him, the court should revive the matter in order to defend itself against conspicuous allegations that it routinely violated “minimum wage, overtime, sick leave and immigration laws”.

The matter allegedly began in February 2019 when plaintiff Jenifer Mejia said she was hired “on the pretext” that CdG, which owns the Comme des Garçons brand and retail chain Dover Street Market, wanted to create “a legitimate” human resources department for its US offices. Ms. Mejia claims that things were going south quickly and she was soon “treated as a thorn in the side of the company for speaking out against it [CdG’s] illegal treatment of company employees, and then allegedly fired for a few dollars worth of office supplies. ”

According to the complaint she filed in federal court in New York in October 2020, Mejia claims that within days of starting her five-month tenure, the fashion brand Rei Kawakubo founded began to experience problems. For example, on the second day of her employment as a CdG human resources generalist, she claims that the company’s CFO, Elaine Beuther, “directed it [her] Darken, re-date, and forge the signatures of two employees on New York State Paid Family Vacation insurance forms. ”

“An emerging pattern”

Afterward, Mejia claims she witnessed cases that were part of an emerging pattern of CdG that was not paying [certain] Wages “and fixing such alleged errors” when the affected employees complained that they were not paid. For example, she claims she was privy to complaints from people who worked in Cover’s Dover Street Market stores in New York and Los Angeles that they were not paid and was “alarmed by the number of employees requesting repayment ”.

On another occasion in March 2019, Mejia said she found out that CdG had a “ghost employee” in the role of digital coordinator for the press department. She claims that the CdG for this person was “missing records for employees (such as I-9, W-4, letter of offer, or employment contract)” and that she paid that employee $ 47,500, which was “below the newly assessed salary threshold for exemptions for employees under the New York Labor Act. ”

When she brought this issue to the attention of Beuther, Mejia claimed, “Beuther looked surprised and uncomfortable and then replied in a threatening tone that she had been with HR for this company for 20 years and that if there were any job updates she would be advised Company lawyer or she would ask the company lawyer personally. ”

At around the same time, however, Mejia claims that she was informed by the Los Angeles store manager that “a number of employees … 5+ months after a statewide increase went into effect, they have still not been paid a minimum wage.” Mejia says this when she “grew up [the issue] that the company was not compliant for more than 5 months … Beuther was visibly angry, shaky and hurried that this was not Ms. Mejia’s concern. “

To promote the CdG’s pattern of allegedly violating a number of federal and state laws, Mejia claims that on another occasion in late March 2019, “a terminally ill sales rep named Jennie requested a month off for medical treatment.” Because CdG “does not offer paid sick leave”, Mejia claims in her complaint that “Beuther explained it [her] that Jennie had already used her all-purpose 17 days allotted by the company [paid time off]”And,” went on, that Jennie should just quit when she wasn’t going to work, but that for “obvious reasons” they couldn’t fire her. “

Mejia claims: “Beuther told us [her] to simply inform Jennie that she used all of her PTO, and specifically instructed Ms. Mejia not to inform Jenny of her statutory rights to medical leave, whether under the Family and Sick Leave Act, the Paid Family Leave Act of New York State or the New York Paid Sick Leave Act in the hope that Jenny becomes unaware of her rights and simply resigns. “While Mejia says she” pushed back against this illegal policy and asked the two to speak to the company’s lawyer, [she] was rejected [by Beuther]and as a result Jennie resigned. ”

And finally, in May 2019, Mejia claims that she was asked by Beuther to add new recruitment papers to the CdG system for a person named Selia Fragapane. The next day, Mejia claims: “Beuther told us [her] that Selia Fragapane is a Canadian citizen on a TN-1 visa and that her status “Requires Discretion”. When Mejia met with Ms. Fragapane to complete her I-9 review, Mejia found that her visa did not allow her to fill the position she was hired for. ”

When she informed Beuther of the problem, Mejia claimed that she was told to “essentially stop asking questions and include Ms. Frangapane in the system”.

(Mejia claims that Fragapane was ultimately fired in July 2019 after being “physically assaulted” on camera[ing] a saleswoman she just quit. “In late July, Mejia claimed that” a whistleblower emailed the company the report, video, footage and police report of the victim of the attack “and that” Ms. Fragapane has been reported to ICE. “)

Ultimately, Mejia says she was fired in July 2019 “because she was just trying to do her job”. In particular, Mejia claims that she was officially released on “orders”[ing] A few dollars’ worth of office supplies after the company’s deadline to submit such orders, “the real reason for her dismissal was retaliation from CdG in response to her” numerous work and employment problems, “which she believed were routinely met with” obfuscation and denial “.

With that in mind, Mejia accused the CdG of taking revenge on her for engaging in a sheltered activity – that is, alerting the company to non-compliance with various labor and wage laws – which went against the False Claims Act. violated New York State Labor Law and the California Labor Code. She also alleges that the CdG violated California Family Rights Act and the Family and Sick Leave Act by opposing them for speaking out against the company’s alleged violations of those laws. Protected leave for qualified medical and / or family reasons.

As a result of such violations, Mejia claims that she has “suffered and continues to suffer economic loss, anguish, pain and suffering, and other harm” and is entitled to a range of damages.

Is the case back in operation?

Mejia has hardly been an easy case so far and filed her complaint on October 28, 2020. When the CdG failed to respond to the case, a default judgment was issued against it on December 17, 2020. In fact, the case was not closed. However, because CdG tried to set aside the default judgment on the grounds that it “did not react [to Mejia’s case] wasn’t wanton. “In its application of January 15, the company claimed that it was only aware of the filing after the default judgment had been issued, as its” company address has changed and has not yet been updated with the Foreign Minister “.

Regarding the merits of Mejia’s case, the CdG alleged in its eviction request that it “had a legitimate business reason for the termination [her] Employment, namely her failure to meet the CdG’s expectations of a Human Resource Generalist and for violating the CdG’s trust by engaging in inappropriate and inflammatory jokes with an employee.

(CdG added an email exchange between Mejia and an administrative assistant / receptionist in CdG’s New York office, where Mejia reports the price of clothes sold in Dover Street Market stores, sales of the stores, and the company Spends on accommodation for a corporate buyer when traveling in connection with their application for reimbursement of office supplies.

Furthermore, CdG characterizes Mejia’s claim that “CdG would have stopped [her] with the expectation that she will complete these important HR duties in February 2019, only to quit five months later for trying “as” illogical “and claiming that” Mejia from the start “failed to do hers Expectation. According to CdG’s request, Mejia “made mistakes and demonstrated a lack of judgment that led CdG to realize this [she] was not the seasoned human resources specialist she expected. ”

In a separate but related filing, Beuther makes a statement denying a slew of claims by Mejia and stating that she “has verified [Mejia’s] Complain and am very surprised at the allegations she makes. According to Beuther, Mejia’s “employment was not terminated in retaliation for her efforts to ensure CDG complied with minimum wage, overtime, medical leave and immigration laws”. Instead, she was fired “because she made mistakes that she did not meet CDG’s expectations of a human resource generalist and because she violated the company’s trust. ”

Because Mejia was “not affected” by the delay in the CdG’s response to its lawsuit and will not be affected if the default judgment is overturned, and because it “has a meritorious defense against the judgment [her] claims “, claimed CDG that” there is an important reason to set aside the default judgment “.

According to the file, Mejia’s objection to the CdG’s motion to set aside the default judgment if it chooses to file a judgment is due on February 3rd.

A representative from CdG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

* The case is Mejia v. Comme Des Garçons, Ltd., 1:20-cv-09057 (SDNY).