13 votes

Panda Express workers forced to strip in ‘cult-like’ team-building seminar, lawsuit alleges

3 comments

  1. [3]
    joplin
    Link
    Well that's horrific. This struck me as odd: I have to wonder if the manager or someone the manager knows is getting a kickback for funneling people into these seminars? There are a lot of really...

    Well that's horrific.

    This struck me as odd:

    The victim says she began working for Panda Express in 2016 and was told in July 2019 by then store manager Matthiu Simuda she needed to complete a self-improvement seminar conducted by Alive Seminars.

    I have to wonder if the manager or someone the manager knows is getting a kickback for funneling people into these seminars? There are a lot of really questionable "self-improvement" seminars available in the LA area. (I think Landmark is the most well-known one.) I think some of them are essentially pyramid schemes where you make more and move up depending on the number of people you recruit. (I don't know that's what's going on here, but it makes me wonder.)

    Edited to add: So it looks like this website uses some sort of ad blocker detection. If you read it with an ad blocker, it scrambles the text. I was reading in Safari's "Reader Mode" and it didn't do that, fwiw. Although, after letting the page sit for about 5 minutes, it must have reloaded with the scrambled text or something. Reloading it again in Reader mode, the scrambled text went away.

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      daturkel
      Link Parent
      Tangential to the article itself, but assuming you're referring to the Pasadena Star News page, it loaded fine (not-scrambled) for me in Chrome with uBlock Origin enabled. As for the kickback...

      Tangential to the article itself, but assuming you're referring to the Pasadena Star News page, it loaded fine (not-scrambled) for me in Chrome with uBlock Origin enabled.

      As for the kickback part: Since the self-help company gave out materials with Panda Express branding, it seems like this was at least in some way an official partnership (at least at the level of this individual franchise). I doubt that an employer in CA can compel employees to pay out of pocket for off-site job training though. (In fact, they might even have to pay you for your time.)

      3 votes
      1. Good_Apollo
        Link Parent
        Oh yes even on that note this is a slam dunk case. How disgusting on every level. I hope both companies get sued into the ground.

        Oh yes even on that note this is a slam dunk case. How disgusting on every level.

        I hope both companies get sued into the ground.

        1 vote