Taco Bell embroiled in lawsuit alleging sex act at holiday party

A former Taco Bell employee is suing the restaurant chain and franchise owner after reportedly witnessing excessive drinking and open sex at a holiday party hosted at a Taco Bell store last year.

Alana Bechiom, a former employee at the San Pedro Taco Bell, filed a complaint with the Superior Court of California Los Angeles on Nov. 14. She’s claiming that the company fostered a hostile work environment, retaliated against her and issued a wrongful constructive termination, among other damages.

Colorado-based franchise owner Alvarado Restaurant Group and 50 other Taco Bell employees are also tangled up in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, Bechiom stated that her former supervisor invited her to a potluck-style holiday party on Dec. 18, 2022, where alcohol was served. Prior to attending, the former employee said, she believed that the company had approved the party and she decided to bring a bowl of guacamole for the event. When Bechiom arrived, she noticed that her supervisor had covered both storefront windows and security cameras with wrapping paper, the lawsuit said. Excessive amounts of alcohol were also purportedly served to employees by the supervisor.

“Around midnight, Plaintiff, who had been socializing outside the restaurant for a short while, walked back into the restaurant and witnessed her coworker … having sex with his wife in front of everyone at the party,” the lawsuit said. Two colleagues, which included the plaintiff’s supervisor, were simultaneously kissing their colleague’s wife amid the sex act, the lawsuit continued.

After witnessing the sexual activity inside the restaurant, Bechiom ran outside feeling “shocked, disgusted and outraged” by what she saw, according to the complaint. She returned inside shortly after to retrieve her guacamole bowl, which was being used by someone at the party to vomit in. After she complained to her supervisor about the ordeal, a colleague threatened to fight her, the plaintiff alleged, though no physical altercation occurred.

On Dec. 20, 2022, Bechiom reported the incident to Taco Bell’s human resources department and later reported the incident to the franchise owner on Dec. 21. According to the lawsuit, the supervisor and two staffers, which included the employee engaging in the sex act, were terminated after a company-issued investigation. Things took a turn for the worse when the plaintiff claimed she received an onslaught of threats from Taco Bell employees. 

“On or about December 22, 2022, someone associated with Defendants retaliated against Plaintiff and smashed out the back left window of Plaintiff’s car at her home in the middle of the night,” the lawsuit said. “Plaintiff then began to receive numerous threats of violence from multiple coworkers. For example, one of Plaintiff’s female coworkers texted Plaintiff ‘baby girl I wanna break your face [I don’t give a f—k] about your car.’”

The vandalism was reported to the Los Angeles Police Department, the lawsuit said, and Bechiom reported it and the text messages to Taco Bell and ARG. Taco Bell and the franchisee planned to transfer the plaintiff to a new store “rather than disciplining the employees who threatened her,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit argued that Taco Bell and the franchise location created a hostile work environment that pushed Bechiom to resign on Dec. 24, 2022. The complaint said Taco Bell and the franchise store staged a constructive termination by failing to take appropriate and immediate action, adding that she believes she was terminated, at least in part, “because she disclosed unlawful information to a government or law enforcement agency.”  

The former Taco Bell employee is claiming emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment following the incident as well as financial losses that include loss of benefits and damage to her professional reputation. Bechiom is asking for a trial by jury and monetary expenses for attorney fees.  

SFGATE reached out to Taco Bell for comment but did not hear back by publication.