Megan Thee Stallion has had her request to move her harassment lawsuit from California to New York approved, but Roc Nation wasn’t as lucky in its efforts to dismiss the company as a defendant.
Megan and Roc Nation are being sued by the Houston Hottie’s former photographer Emilio Garcia for creating a hostile work environment, workplace harassment and employment misclassification, among other claims.
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In a legal filing last week, U.S. District Hernán D. Vera granted the rapper’s request to transfer the case to the Southern District of New York but refused to dismiss Roc Nation as a defendant at this stage.
Garcia originally filed his lawsuit in Los Angeles as independent contractors in the state are only allowed to work a certain amount of hours before they automatically become classified as employees.
The court ruled that is reasonable to infer that Roc Nation could be classified as a joint employer as they had the power to determine the photographer’s employability.
A judge in LA has granted Megan Thee Stallion's request to transfer to NYC the hostile work environment lawsuit filed by a photographer who says he was wrongly classified as a contractor.
He declined to dismiss Roc Nation as a defendant at this stage. https://t.co/RpscqxRoytpic.twitter.com/03LKYas0kr
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) October 7, 2024
U.S. District Judge Hernan Vera's ruling says the "forum selection clause" of Emilio Garcia's employment contract as Megan Thee Stallion's photographer is enforceable. https://t.co/RpscqxQQIVpic.twitter.com/AYdsLbRWWm
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) October 7, 2024
"The Court can draw the reasonable inference that Roc Nation, who had the ability to fire Plaintiff and control how Plaintiff was paid, may be considered a joint employer."
The "viewing the complaint in a light most favorable to plaintiff" standard.https://t.co/RpscqxRoytpic.twitter.com/98DURnhUAn— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) October 7, 2024
In his lawsuit, filed in April, Garcia claimed that he once witnessed Megan Thee Stallion having sex with another woman in a moving car while they were traveling in Ibiza, leaving him “embarrassed, mortified and offended.”
He claimed Megan then told him, “Don’t ever discuss what you saw” before proceeding to “berate” him with fat-shaming comments such as, “Fat bitch,” “Spit your food out” and, “You don’t need to be eating.”
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The photographer also accused the “WAP” rapper of underpaying him for his work. After raising his complaints with her and reaching an “understanding,” he claimed he was unexpectedly informed by Roc Nation that his services were no longer needed.
“Such harassment was so severe or pervasive that it altered the terms and conditions of Plaintiff’s employment, creating a hostile, abusive work environment and making his working conditions intolerable,” reads the suit. “Said harassment was sufficiently extreme to amount to a change in the terms and conditions of Plaintiff’s employment.”
Garcia is suing for punitive damages, attorney’s costs, unpaid wages plus interest on the unpaid wages, unpaid overtime wages and other employee benefits at the legal rate.
Megan, through her attorney, has vehemently denied the claims put forward by Garcia.
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“This is an employment claim for money — with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her,” Meg’s lawyer said. “We will deal with this in court.”
