A former Lululemon Athletica employee has sued the yoga wear retailer for fostering a sexually charged corporate culture and condoning lewd behavior by its employees.
Shayla Famouri, who had worked in a Lululemon store in Santa Monica, Calif., for three years, claims in her lawsuit that she was raped by her supervisor last year and that the company failed to act after being warned of previous instances of his sexually inappropriate behavior.
Lululemon “created the perfect environment for a sexual predator” like Phillip Silva, her supervisor, to operate, the suit claims.
“Well before Famouri was assaulted, Lululemon’s managers received complaints that Silva had engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with his female subordinates including making vulgar sexual comments, groping subordinates, propositioning subordinates, and pinning at least one woman to a wall,” according to the suit filed in LA federal court.
Lululemon said it was not aware of Silva’s bad behavior before she reported it to an exec in June — about two months after the alleged rape.
“In 2016, Shayla Famouri raised serious allegations regarding the behavior of another employee,” the company said in a statement. “Upon learning of these allegations, the company initiated a comprehensive and in-depth investigation. The accused employee was immediately suspended; and then resigned.”
Lululemon said it saw the investigation through to completion. It found that the accused employee did engage in “behavior that was not in line with our standards of conduct.”
Famouri reported the alleged attack to the Santa Monica police, which recorded a telephone call between Famouri and Silva, in which he corroborated the details of her allegations, according to the complaint.
But the local district attorney declined to prosecute because no rape test was performed, said Adam Zaffos, Famouri’s lawyer.
Silva raped Famouri in his home as she was attempting to tell him that his sexual overtures over the past months were unwanted, it is alleged.
“At Lululemon, harassment and discrimination have no place in our community,” the company said.