Ex-Taco Bell Employee Claims She Walked Into Orgy Instead of Christmas Party
Usually your company Christmas party is an opportunity to mingle with your coworkers and celebrate a successful year coming to a close. One former Taco Bell employee got quite the surprise when her restaurant's own holiday party allegedly turned out to be an orgy.
A new lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that in December 2022, Alana Bechiom was invited by her supervisor to a holiday celebration at the Taco Bell location where she worked. It was meant to be a potluck, so Bechiom made guacamole for the occasion and brought it in a bowl from home.
When she, her sister, and her sister's partner arrived, they "discovered that [supervisor Lidia] Ruiz covered the windows of the restaurant with wrapping paper," which was already a red flag. She also noticed they “covered the cameras for the lobby in the inside of the restaurant," according to The New York Post.
Her supervisor Lidia Ruiz is accused of giving alcohol to the employees, resulting in several of them being "over served." At around midnight, Bechiom was outside socializing for a bit and was "shocked, disgusted, and outraged by what she saw" when she walked back inside: a coworker "having sex with his wife in front of everyone at the party." Bechiom claims the wife was "bent over" and "kissing both Ruiz and another coworker who was given the pseudonym Adriana.
Bechiom ran outside to gather herself after stumbling into the scene. When she went back inside to get her guacamole bowl, she found perhaps the most upsetting part of the whole scene as "Adriana" was vomiting into it.
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After the ill-fated evening, Bechiom reported her coworkers to HR, leading to their termination from the company. It wasn't long, though, before she began to face backlash for her actions, as she faced threats and had her car window shattered by a friend of one of the fired employees. She claims that Taco Bell and the franchisee violated anti-discrimination laws because they "did nothing about these threats and instead told [her] that they were transferring her to a new location rather than disciplining the employees who threatened her." She was forced to quit her job and "suffered actual, consequential and incidental financial losses" as a result.
Taco Bell shared their concerns about the incident and ongoing lawsuit in a statement. "While we don’t own or manage this location, the franchisee who owns and operates this restaurant has shared that they take these claims very seriously," the fast food giant said.
They may have lost their jobs, but the former employees might have been a good example of what it means to "Live Más."