A former employee is suing Megan Thee Stallion, detailing a series of workplace violations.
Megan Thee Stallion is a popular star, a talented actress, the victim of a terrible crime, and everyone’s star crush.
However, according to a cameraman who previously worked for her, she was responsible for a harmful culture of harassment in the workplace.
The lawsuit against the rapper cites nine labor law violations, including harassment and hostile work environment.
But who is Emilio Garcia?
Emilio Garcia worked for Megan Thee Stallion from 2018 to 2023
On Tuesday, April 23, Emilio Garcia filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Megan Thee Stallion and her companies. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed.
Megan, née Megan Pete, owns Megan Thee Stallion Entertainment, Inc. and Hot Girl Touring, LLC. Jay-Z founded Roc Nation. These companies are named in the lawsuit alongside Stallion.
The allegations in the lawsuit range from embarrassing mishaps that can (but shouldn’t) happen in the entertainment industry to body-shaming harassment to issues of pay and retaliation.
Please do not have sex in front of your employees
According to Garcia’s claims, Stallion once had sex in a moving car while on tour in Spain in June 2022.
Garcia describes sitting in the car at the time and feeling “embarrassed, ashamed and offended throughout the whole ordeal.” Due to the circumstances (being in a moving vehicle) he couldn’t easily do this leave.
The next day, Garcia recalls, Stallion asked him if he had been in the car. Apparently she hadn’t noticed it at the time. After confirming this, Stallion allegedly instructed him, “Never discuss what you saw.”
The lawsuit accuses Megan Thee Stallion of body shaming and harassment
While the previous incident sounds like an embarrassing mishap for both of them, things get much worse. Garcia claims Stallion chastised him about his size, called him a “fat bitch” and told him to “spit out your food.”
That would be absolutely reprehensible under any circumstances – but when it comes from an employer, it’s even worse.
The same applies here: Even if sex in front of an employee is supposedly inappropriate, it sounds like an accident. Something like that may (but shouldn’t) happen when people travel together for a long period of time. The alleged one Body shaminghowever, is truly inexcusable.
Then there is the question of payment
According to Garcia, his role was misclassified, causing him to lose health care and overtime pay. Additionally, he reports that while working as Stallion’s personal photographer, he had no breaks to rest or eat.
Garcia’s lawsuit details how Roc Nation’s CEO changed his compensation structure in August 2022. Instead of a monthly payment of $4,000, he was paid per task. Essentially, this meant he was paid less for the same work – all thanks to employer jargon and a few strokes of a pen.
This kind of horror happens in all sorts of industries. While it’s easy to say that Garcia could have simply quit and taken a new job that would have paid him like a human, that’s often easier said than done. (Plus, you can imagine he hoped things would improve)
Garcia was on duty the entire time, his lawsuit says
Megan Thee Stallion allegedly told him he wasn’t allowed to work for anyone else. And as her personal photographer, he had to be on call at all times during the tour. That’s a description of a full-time job that didn’t pay him enough anyway and then paid him less.
Garcia says the termination of his contract in 2023 was in retaliation for raising complaints about harassment and inadequate compensation.
“Plaintiff struggles with increasing anxiety, depression, and physical distress resulting from the toxic work environment and compounded by the trauma of unpaid work,” the lawsuit states.
Megan Thee Stallion’s attorney has issued a response
“This is a workers’ compensation lawsuit – with no claim of sexual harassment and with salacious allegations to embarrass her,” attorney Alex Spiro claimed The Hollywood Reporter. “We will sort this out in court.”
Spiro worked extensively for Roc Nation and Jay-Z for years.
The salacious details of the lawsuit actually seem embarrassing. Then again, the alleged incident was probably embarrassing for Garcia. However, if the rest is true, then Megan The Stallion’s misbehavior goes far beyond a spicy car ride in Spain.