Ethan Miller/Getty Images
- A new lawsuit alleges that a Taco Bell holiday party last year went off the rails.
- The lawsuit alleges the party devolved into employees getting drunk and having sex in public.
- An employee alleges in the lawsuit that she faced threats after she reported the incident.
A new lawsuit alleges that a Taco Bell holiday party last year went off the rails and devolved into employees getting drunk, having public sex, and vomiting in a guacamole bowl.
The suit was filed by a woman who worked at a Taco Bell in San Pedro, California, at the time and attended the holiday party. The lawsuit alleges that she reported the incident and was retaliated against by people associated with the defendants of the case.
Alvarado Restaurant Group, the owner of the franchise that runs the Taco Bell location, did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Taco Bell said in a statement to Business Insider: "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."
The suit alleges that the woman's supervisor invited her to the party at the Taco Bell restaurant they worked at in December 2022. The lawsuit alleges that when she arrived, she saw her supervisor had covered the windows of the restaurant and the cameras for the lobby inside the restaurant with wrapping paper.
The supervisor, who is a defendant, served alcohol at the party, and multiple people were "overserved," the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit says that the woman who filed the lawsuit left the restaurant at one point and socialized outside for a little while. When she got back around midnight, the lawsuit alleges that she "witnessed her coworker" having "sex with his wife in front of everyone at the party."
The lawsuit alleges that the coworker's wife "was bent over and was kissing" her supervisor and another coworker simultaneously. The woman who filed the lawsuit was "shocked, disgusted and outraged" and ran outside, the lawsuit says.
But she had left her guacamole bowl inside, the suit says. The lawsuit alleges that when she went back to retrieve it, she saw her supervisor and a coworker throwing up.
"One vomited in the trash, and the other in Plaintiff's guacamole bowl," the complaint alleges.
The woman alleges in the lawsuit that she reported what happened at the holiday party to Taco Bell's HR department and Alvarado Restaurant Group, the owner of the franchise. Her supervisor and other employees who were involved in the public sexual encounter were fired, the suit alleges.
But, the lawsuit alleges, after they were terminated, "someone associated" with the defendants "smashed out the back left window" of her car in the middle of the night.
The lawsuit alleges that Taco Bell and Alvarado Restaurant Group "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."
The woman ultimately quit her job and "suffered actual, consequential, and incidental financial losses," the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit also names Taco Bell, Alvarado Restaurant Group, and "DOES 1 through 50" as defendants. The lawsuit alleges that Does 1-50 are people who were "negligently, intentionally, or otherwise legally responsible in some manner for the events and happenings."