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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Two former employees of a Beverly Hills skincare products company that caters to celebrities can move to trial with their lawsuit against their ex-boss, in which they allege they were forced to resign rather than endure a systematic pattern of racism and discrimination in the workplace.
Indigo Sargent and Melissa Scott brought the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against skincare master Sonya Dakar and her companies, Global Green World LLC and Sonya D. International Inc. The suit's allegations include sexual orientation harassment and discrimination, retaliation, failure to take all reasonable steps to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation, negligent hiring retention and supervision and various state Labor Code violations.
Some claims are asserted by Sargent only and others by both plaintiffs against the companies. On Thursday, Judge Michael Small denied a defense motion to dismiss some or all of the causes of action.
According to her website, Dakar is dubbed the "skin jedi" and "is the beauty industry's grand-dame of face oils." Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow "submit their famous visages to her cutting-edge red light treatments, diamond facials and organic apple stem cell applications to glowing results," according to the Dakar website.
In his ruling, the judge cited Sargent's sworn declaration stating that immediately after a February 2019 conversation with Sargent about the plaintiff's sexual orientation, Dakar began to consistently degrade Sargent's demeanor and regularly belittled LGBTQ clients in front of her.
The judge also said Sargent's declaration "creates a triable issue of material fact as to whether the harassment was severe or pervasive enough to alter the conditions of Sargent's employment."
In her declaration, Sargent said she was hired in January 2019 by Sonya D. International. She stated she is bisexual and that she found Dakar's February 2019 comments to be "homophobic" and "threatening" and that they caused her to cry at work and feel nervousness and anxiety in the workplace.
In their court papers, attorneys for Dakar and the companies denied any wrongdoing or liability on the part of their clients and noted that both plaintiffs worked for Dakar for less than two months.
"This is a shakedown," the defense lawyers asserted in their court papers.
After their "exceedingly short times as employees," both plaintiffs resigned their positions with Sargent taking a better-paying job elsewhere, then both chose to "bring a host of unfounded claims against their former employers," the defense attorneys stated in their court papers.
The plaintiffs allege that they "witnessed and endured an outrageous pattern of harassment, discrimination, racism and abuse" while working at Dakar's business in the 9900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, where Sargent was a front desk concierge and Scott had a marketing position.
"Among other things, defendants' principals, including Sonya Dakar, consistently made racist comments towards African-Americans, Latinos and Muslims, including employees, job applicants and customers," according to the suit, which alleges that Dakar regularly referred to Latinos as "chihuahuas," "gonzalezes" and "rodriguezes."
Dakar "repeatedly stated that she did not want "chihuahuas running around her clinic," according to the suit, which further alleges that the businesswoman told the plaintiffs and other employees that Latinos would not be interviewed or hired, nor would Blacks because they were "entitled."
During the plaintiffs' employment, the company hired almost exclusively white, Israeli and Middle Eastern employees, the suit says.
According to the complaint filed in October 2020, Dakar labeled a former employee a "dirty Muslim," called anyone who disagreed with her a "Nazi" and asked candidates during interviews about their religious, ethnic and national origin backgrounds.
The plaintiffs allege Dakar also made the following remarks: "Is the candidate Black? Then I'm not interested"; "We don't have Black customers"; "We want a uniform appearance"; "My customers wouldn't want to see Black workers"; "I am afraid to go near Muslims because I will get my head cut off"; "The applicant has Asian looking eyes"; and "I am not interested in that Black look."
She tore up resumes of Black or Latino applicants and used a notebook to jot down notes about an applicant's ethnicity, race and/or national origin, with comments such as "Black," "I like her, but ethnic" and "sounded Hispanic," the suit alleges.
The plaintiffs allege that Dakar attacked them and other employees for not looking into the backgrounds of candidates to ensure they were not Black or Latino, and "expressly instructed them to research the candidates on social media before the interviews for the sole purpose of determining their race and nationality."
Dakar also used homophobic slurs, called employees "despicable" and "lower than dirt" and threatened to fire and have arrested any employee who spoke back to her, the suit alleges.
Sargent and Scott began suffering severe anxiety and emotional distress and resigned "in order to safeguard their health and safety," the suit alleges. Scott left in December 2018 and Sargent three months later, according to their complaint, which alleges that Dakar failed to pay them all wages and other amounts they were owed.
Dakar's other clients have included Sofia Vergara, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Fergie and Priyanka Chopra.
Trial of the case is scheduled Sept. 25.