A former Los Angeles area Taco Bell employee is suing the company and a franchise owner after she claims a Christmas party at the fast-food restaurant descended into a drunken mess that included open sex.
Alana Bechiom filed her lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.
In the suit, she alleges that her supervisor invited her to the Dec. 18, 2022, party at the San Pedro Taco Bell at which she worked. She was encouraged to bring food for a potluck-style buffet, and her contribution was a bowl of guacamole.
Once she arrived, Bechiom “discovered that [her supervisor] covered the windows of the restaurant with wrapping paper” and “also covered the cameras for the lobby in the inside of the restaurant,” according to the complaint, the NY Post reports.
She claims her supervisor provided alcohol to staffers, several of whom were “overserved.”
Around midnight, after Bechiom had stepped outside for a short time, she walked back into the restaurant and saw a co-worker “having sex with his wife in front of everyone at the party,” she alleges.
The co-worker’s wife, Bechiom claims, was also kissing her female manager and another female co-worker at the same time.
“Shocked, disgusted and outraged,” Bechiom alleges that she first ran out of the restaurant but then went back inside to retrieve her guacamole bowl – only to find that her manager and the other co-worker involved in the sexual encounter were vomiting.
One threw up in the trash while the other vomited in her guacamole bowl, according to the complaint.
Bechiom says she reported the incident to Taco Bell human resources and Alvarado Restaurant Group, the Colorado-based franchisee. The manager and other co-workers involved in the sexual encounter were fired, her complaint states.
After their termination, Bechiom alleges she was threatened and had her car window shattered by someone associated with her former co-workers.
Taco Bell and the franchisee “did nothing about these threats and instead told [her] that they were transferring her to a new location rather than disciplining the employees who threatened her,” according to her complaint.
Bechiom eventually quit and alleges that she “has suffered actual, consequential and incidental financial losses” and that Taco Bell violated anti-discrimination laws, the NY Post reports.
KTLA reached out to Taco Bell and the Alvarado Restaurant Group for comment.
“While we don’t own or manage this location, the franchisee who owns and operates this restaurant has shared that they take these claims very seriously,” a Taco Bell spokesperson said.