The reason for the quiet listing of Villa Blanca for sale is becoming even more obvious with the filing of another hostile work environment lawsuit. The listing of the restaurant appeared after a former employee received a letter of right two sue, and just days before the actual suit was filed on July 31st. I became aware of the suit through a TMZ article that was very light on the details of the suit. At that time Lisa Vanderpump tweeted that there was no new suit at all and this was old news. Once again, Vanderpump’s tweets about these suits are unreliable.
In this latest suit, Martha Diaz, a pastry chef who worked at Villa Blanca alleges that yet another manager has created a hostile workplace and sexual harassment by her immediate supervisor Gustovo Molina. The suit alleges that beginning in March of 2014 Molina began to harass her by inappropriately touching her in a sexual manner including touching of her vaginal area. Molina and another kitchen worker would make sexually inappropriate comments toward Diaz in the course of her workday. The two would also pull up pornographic images on their cell phones and expose them to her. The two kitchen works would refer to Diaz as fat, ugly and call her a whore. They also places pornographic drawings in her work space and on her locker.
Diaz made numerous complaints to upper management and ownership, yet no action was taken to protect her and the hostile work environment continued.
Charges filed against the manager and the restaurant are (1) Sexual Harassment in the Workplace (2) Hostile Work Environment and Harassment in the Workplace (3) Battery (4) Assault (5) Negligence ( 6) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress (7) Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress .
Diaz is asking for (1) General Damages ( 2) Medical Expenses (3) Special Damages (4) Statutory Penalties and Damages (5) Punitive and Exemplary Damages (6) Prejudgement Interest (7) Attorney Fees and Costs (8) Any Further Relief the Judge Deems Just and Proper.
If you missed any of the previous posts about Villa Blanca’s legal troubles, you can find those posts listed here.
What the heck is the problem at Villa Blanca? Seriously.
My question is what in heck is the matter with Lisa and Ken? I would have fired Gustavo Molina in a heart beat. He has caused a good deal of trouble and cost Lisa and Ken a big bunch of money. Lets hope he doesn’t have any blackmail information on them. Who ever harassed this woman needed to loose their jobs. I’m sure there are other bakery workers out there that would love to have that job. As for the gen. mgr. I’m sure there are other people to replace him too. Lisa and Ken need to sue Molina to try and recoop the money he has cost them and may cost them even more, but I’m sure he has no money. So Lisa and Ken need to keep their noses to the grindstone, keep this place under control and dump it. If this woman complained to Lisa and Ken and they did nothing, well it’s gona cost em !!
Lisa, if you are reading these blogs….please be aware that you need a good Human Resources individual that could handle the employee misconduct that seems rampant in your organization.
You can’t just go around firing everyone because one person makes a claim. They would then get sued for wrongful termination of the fired employees. Sounds like the person most responsible for failing to due their job is HR.
I hope Diaz wins..and wins big!
I do too. No one should have to work under those conditions. I like Lisa and Ken but they have allowed this guy to stay on as mgr. and that’s just dumb
FYI this is not the same manager from the other cases. This is the kitchen manager, the other guy was a front of the house manager. So at least THREE male employees there are sexually harassing the women.
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 2:36 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
It’s not just dumb, it’s inhuman
Unless they can definitively prove she’s lying, I think they would be better off settling this out of court as the last lawsuit did not end well for them. Would I like to see this taken all the way to the courtroom? Yes, yes I would.
Good lord she looks great in that photo. Well…not so much her face. But her body is amazing for any age.
Her figure is FABULOUS. I was eating a bag of chips just now, and I just tossed them! lol
All that and a bag of chips! Seriously, it’s ok to indulge every now and then. Life’s too damn short.
I guess this means there will be many more years of Vanderpump Rules to keep paying off these judgments. I wonder when the SUR lawsuits will hit?
This sounds similar to Paula Deen’s situation at Uncle Bubba’s. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I don’t see the similarities at all.
Not similar at all.
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 3:52 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
I was referring to all the problems being reported about management and, seemingly, nobody being too concerned. The harrasment, porn, high profile owners, etc. (I’m not talking about the deposition and all it’s details, just how that lawsuit started out seems similar to how this lawsuit is beginning)
Maybe I’m wrong. It was just my first thought.
Now you are not wrong. Very similar stuff. I was just making clear that both the front and the back of the house has managers charged with sexual harassment. That seems like a lot for one restaurant.
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 5:02 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Another lawsuit is really not surprising, just a long time coming. Even though the participants of VP sign a contract with Bravo that prohibits lawsuits, what was obvious to me the first season I watched VP was a tolerance for behavior in the workplace that would be grounds for immediate termination anywhere else. If gross sexual harassment and behavior unbecoming the workplace was happening in front of the cameras it was probably worse behind them.
Initially I did not understand Ken and Lisa’s lackadaisical acceptance of such embarrassing behavior by their employees being broadcasted to the viewing public. Did they not understand how wrong it was? Then I came to the conclusion that they are part and parcel of the problem. IMO the inappropriate actions, language, touching is perverse entertainment for them. For the employees that Ken and Lisa favor it would not surprise me in the least if they receive perks above their regular pay and benefit package that keeps them from filing charges (invitations to parties, time off to ride on parade floats, wearing of Lisa’s jewels, drinking on the job…). The “less fortunate” either silently suffer through, quit or are terminated. Not all are remaining silent.
Towards the end of season one when Ken and Lisa had the pool party for the employees I got a feeling that they were a tad creepy. That was the end of watching VP for me.
Ken and Lisa should settle out of court and move on with the sale. They should also change what is and isn’t acceptable behavior with stiff consequences for anyone who steps out of line. If they hear the scuttlebutt of the VP employees they hear the scuttlebutt of the SUR employees and are not ignorant to the problems. Just ignorant.
Vanderpump Rules was filmed at SUR which has nothing to do with Villa Blanca other than the owners being the same.
The things shown on Vanderpump Rules were not sexual harassment nor hostile work environment, it was script for a TV show.
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 5:25 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
The point I was trying to make which I obviously failed at doing was if unlawful behavior is accepted at SUR it would be at Villa Blanca.. I would think their management style would be the same as well as their tolerance level either place.
Unfortunately the script seems to show Ken and Lisa’s casual acceptance of employees overstepping their boundaries.
To those who are not aware it is a scripted reality show there would be no reason to question the validity of the complaint.
Yeah, but the stuff at SUR was nothing illegal. It was normal incestuous restaurant behavior. No body was grabbing their employees crotch and calling the fat ugly whores, or pasting porn on their locker…
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 9:21 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Not one comment on the suit possibly being a scam on part of the employee. There is that possibility. Knowing that they have already been sued and had to pay out big bucks could be very tempting to a not so honest individual. Just saying…
i doubt she would make something like this up, possibly exaggeration, but im pretty sure this happened based on the events in the first lawsuit
Oh there is always some idiot that says something like that. It’s called blame the victim.
It appears you are first in line to lead that band of merry fuckwits.
It amazes me that women will be the first to pop up and claim that someone claiming sexual assault and abuse by men is probably them just trying to get attention, or revenge, or money.
It boggles the mind.
On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 5:55 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Yay! Merry fuckwits!!!
Now where are the twat waffles?
Bwaaahaaahaaa! Oh God TT, stop!! You are reminding me again of how witty and spot on you are!!! Okay, I give up the studio hovel in Nice! I am not worthy. Haahaahaa!!!
I understand because you like someone on a reality show, you want to put blinders on. To me, the prior lawsuit makes it more believable
Completely agree, I let a lot slide for the reality stars I favor,but just to clarify my previous comment in this case I don’t think the girl is lying at all especially since there was a previous lawsuit
i think VB is the red headed stepchild of her restaurants, pump is her latest venture so of course she is paying more attention to that and yes sur employees are under contract, but they also have guierllmo (however you spell it) and nathalie so if there are any problems they can go to them as well. When it comes to VB i think they just dont care about it anymore. lisa i feel will always be my fav, but she should just sell VB already, they obviously cant bother to manage it.
I’m just wondering, have a lot of you worked in a restaurant / bar setting? It’s VERY laid back. On the OTHER hand, IF what this woman states is true, that is not right, not right at all. That’s some messed up sh*t.
I have, and yes a lot of restaurants and bars are unprofessional, but I have also worked at a bar where they had an HR person which created a much more professional environment. Everyone still hooked up with everyone and there was drama but nothing demeaning from management, no drugs, and no issues with harassment.
Horrible management if it’s true. Surprising to be so careless when you have so much to lose as Lisa does.
She does need a human res. person stat. Or maybe, just maybe fire the lot, clean house and start from scratch laying down the law. During college I worked food service. Yes, it is laid back, but that shit would NOT have been tolerated anywhere I worked. She is way to friendly with her employees. She needs to stop being their buddy and be their employer.
Yes , being friends with your employees doesn’t work. Be nice yes but not friends. Someone always winds up getting mad at the other. I think Lisa and Ken were very easy on some of the staff because Pandora was friends with them. Well that doesn’t work either, and as hard as it might be Pandora needs to be professional and not friends when she is at VB even if she is working. People will be friends with Pandora to get away with crap at work and think she will either cover for them or get them off the hook when the s#@* hits the fan.
TT I didn’t know there were three in mgmt. that were the problem thanks for that. I think all three should be sacked.
Wow. They need to hire Unattractive help. Then they won’t hit on each other. Save them lots of Money? Lol.
I just wanted to secure a spot as a twat waffle….;) lol! Jk jk….
Well the problem with villa Blanca is Lisa and Todd. If they cared about their employees rights they wouldn’t be in this position.
The dude touched her vaginal area. That is seriously scary shit. Who knows how he would escalate from there.
Just an observation but I was a waitress/bartender during college and post grad and it was just a big mess of sexual harassment and hookups. Villa Blanca is not the type of place I worked at…..but SUR doesn’t shock me. I worked at college bars in Clemson and Athens.Everyone was sexually harassed, I guess we were as offensive as we were offended. We did not get away with not doing our job or we would have been out the door. I do think that if there was an issue, our boss/owner would have addressed it. I love the color of Lisa’s dress.
Julie, I’m a Bulldawg whose older siblings went to Clemson. My two favorite schools. And I’ve worked in those types of waitressing jobs too. My BOSS never grabbed my lady bits or called me a fat ugly whore.. There is a difference between the regular sex dens that are made of restaurant workers and touching someone’s lady garden.
On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 10:05 PM, Tamara Tattles wrote:
>
Wow I had already figured out you were UGA. A Clemson fan to boot, I love you more. Yes, none of my bosses were touching people unless it was mutual, . I just do not get the drama being brought to work, If anyone caused that type of drama they would have been out the door. After close there could be some bad blood but not at work. do you drink beer and watch football on Satudays? I can’t do wine and football.
oops I just read my orginal post and what I wanted to say is everyone was ok with the misconduct. If there was a serious issue the boss/manager would have addressed it , and I am positive that if it interfered with our job, it would have been dealt with ASAP.
I don’t know what to think, the Todd’s can afford to run a tighter ship.