A former Santa Clarita Panda Express employee who was reportedly required to strip to her underwear and was subjected to other forms of “psychological abuse” during a training seminar has filed a sexual battery lawsuit against the companies involved.
The plaintiff in the case, a 23-year old woman, is suing Panda Restaurant Group, headquartered in Rosemead and ALIVE Seminars and Coaching Academy in Pico Rivera for sexual battery, a hostile work environment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The woman, who will remain unidentified by KHTS as a victim of sexual assault, began working at Panda Express in August of 2016, and quickly established herself as a “self-motivated and ambitious employee who was eager to move up within the supervisory and managerial ranks at Panda Express,” according to court documents.
This was despite an alleged history of “harsh” conditions in the workplace, including being required to abandon a family funeral when she was called into work.
In 2019, the “area coach of operation” (ACO) in charge of the Panda Express location on the 26400 block of Bouquet Canyon Road, reportedly informed the woman that in order to be considered for promotion, she needed to complete a “self-improvement” seminar run by ALIVE Seminars.
According to the official complaint filed with the L.A. County Court, Panda Express heavily encouraged employees in the Los Angeles area to complete ALIVE Seminars training, with doing so being a prerequisite to promotion in many cases.
“All employees received seminar materials featuring the Panda Express logo. Alive Seminars served – in essence – as an extension of Panda Express’ own Human Resources department,” reads the complaint.
The woman says that she paid out of pocket to attend a four-day program starting on July 11, 2019, where every person in attendance was a Panda Express employee.
“From the beginning, the Panda-sponsored Alive seminar attended by (the plaintiff) was bizarre and quickly devolved into psychological abuse,” reads the suit.
To start, attendees were told to sit down and wait without speaking for an hour, until a man stormed in, yelling at and berating the attendees for sitting around doing nothing, when that was just what they had been told to do.
“The man, an Alive Seminars employee, loudly proclaimed that the attendees are ‘nothing’ and ‘don’t matter,’ rounding on some people to berate them individually, spittle flying,” reads the complaint. “The overall effect was that of a particularly nasty drill sergeant yelling into (the plaintiff’s) face.”
During the seminar, ALIVE staff reportedly aimed to “isolate and intimidate” the plaintiff and the other attendees, according to the suit. Attendees were prohibited from using their cell phones, there was no clock in the room, and the doors and windows were all covered with black cloth, preventing sunlight from entering.
“The atmosphere resembled less a self-improvement seminar than a site for off-the-books interrogation of terrorist suspects,” reads the suit. “Nevertheless, most attendees, including Plaintiff, felt that they had no choice but to remain because they were sent to the seminar by Panda Express and told that their opportunity for promotion would depend on completion of the seminar.”
On the second day of the seminar, Friday, July 12, 2019, the woman and other attendees were forced to participate in an “exercise” where they were told to pretend that they are on a sinking ship and that only four of them get to live.
“Each participant in turn was then informed by their peers whether they would live or die. Meanwhile, seminar staff continued to yell abuse to the effect that nobody will care if Plaintiff, or the other participants, live or die because they do not stand out sufficiently,” the suit reads.
The instance of reported sexual battery occurred on the third day of the seminar, Saturday, July 13, 2019. The woman alleges that she was forced to strip down to her underwear under the guise of “trust-building,” according to the suit. However, she felt she had no choice but to participate due to the fact that the seminar would affect the outcome of her employment at Panda Express.
“Plaintiff – stripped almost naked in front of strangers and co-workers – was extremely uncomfortable but pressed on because she knew it was her only chance at a promotion,” the suit reads. “Plaintiff felt extremely uncomfortable at the situation but compelled to continue because her prospects for advancement at Panda Express depended on completion of the seminar.”
While the attendees undressed, several members of ALIVE staff were reportedly seen “openly ogling” female attendees, smiling and laughing.
Attendees were then allegedly required to take turns standing up to yell about their personal struggles until everyone else in the group “believed” them. The last male participant, another Panda Express employee, reportedly had some difficulty “convincing” the others and as a result, broke down in tears.
“(She) was told to stand up and go to the middle of the room with the male participant, where they were forced to “hug it out” wearing nothing but their underwear,” reads the complaint. “(She) was humiliated but did as she was told.”
The plaintiff’s attorneys stated that the seminar went on to resemble a “cult initiation ritual” as time progressed.
“Alive Seminars staff proceeded to dim the lights,” the suit reads. “Plaintiff and the other attendees were instructed to stand up and close their eyes, pretending that a light from above would come down and take all the ‘negative energy’ out of them, then pretend that a hole opened up in the ground and swallowed the ‘negative energy.’ While this was happening, one of the Alive Seminars staff had a cell phone with the light on, recording plaintiff in her state of undress.”
At this point, the woman had enough and made the excuse of a family emergency to leave the seminar and avoid any further “exercises.”
Attendees, the lawsuit alleges, were confined in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation the entire time the seminar was being conducted.
“If (she) wanted to use the restroom, someone from the Alive Seminars staff would stand outside the restroom door. When another participant ran into the restroom to throw up, Alive Seminars staff ran after her,” reads the suit. “Another male participant was only given a small trash can to throw up in and was forced to do it in front of all the other attendees.”
The victim went to the seminar “hopeful and optimistic about her future with Panda Express but left three days later scarred and downtrodden.” Two days later, she quit her job because of emotional distress.
“Panda Express told her to attend the Alive Seminar and made it clear that any promotion depended on it. Panda Express, however, did not care about Plaintiff’s experience at Alive Seminars or that she had been humiliated in front of her co-workers,” read the suit. “Her chances of promotion were destroyed. She had been forced to strip in front of her co-workers. Plaintiff’s working conditions had become intolerable and Panda Express had no interest in addressing the situation.”
The suit alleges that responsibility for the events that reportedly occurred during the July seminar is shared by Panda Restaurant Group and Alive Seminars, as Panda Express “funneled its employees into Alive Seminars courses, made completion of these specific seminars a prerequisite for promotion for certain employees, allowed Alive Seminars the use of its trademarks on seminar materials, and created an actual and/or apparent principal-agent relationship between itself and Alive Seminars.”
ALIVE Seminars and Coaching Academy officials were unavailable for comment as of the publication of this article. Panda Restaurant Group officials stated that an investigation into the incident has been conducted.
The plaintiff is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed last month in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
A case update is expected to be available on July 6.
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