A famed Latin American chicken chain hailed by Mayor Bloomberg for creating new jobs when it opened two locations in the city this year has been hit with a class-action lawsuit claiming female workers are treated like “sex slaves,” The Post has learned.
Women employed at the much-hyped fast-food franchise Pollo Campero claim they endure constant sexual advances, verbal abuse and humiliation, and threats of physical harm.
“Management . . . treat plaintiffs like sex slaves and barnyard animals,” attorneys Jonathan Sack and Eric Stern wrote in the suit filed in Brooklyn federal court on behalf of at least 20 women who accuse the chain of targeting them with gender and nation-of-origin discrimination.
The suit seeks unspecified damages and back pay.
The minimum wage workers are “often grabbed on the breasts and buttocks uninvitingly,” according to the suit, which accuses manager Angel Garcia of telling female employees, “I will f- – – you real good.”
The plaintiffs, most of whom have been in the United States just a few years and do not speak English, told The Post through an interpreter that they witnessed more than one co-worker engage in on-the-clock sex with supervisors.
One woman allegedly had sex with Garcia in the office and storage areas of the restaurant and has since been given preferential treatment.
Those who refuse the manager’s advances are called vulgar names, assigned less desirable duties and forced to wait up to four hours at the restaurant before they can punch in and begin their shifts, the lawsuit says.
“The women are scared,” said Stern.
While the women all work at the location in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, one of two Pollo Campero restaurants launched here this summer by Westchester entrepreneur Neil Colley, the Guatemalan-based corporation is also named in the lawsuit.
Colley could not be reached for comment and the Guatemalan headquarters did not return calls.