Marie Eiffel, owner of Shelter Island market and boutique, subjected workers to sexual assault, discrimination and wage theft, lawsuit says
Marie Eiffel, owner of the Marie Eiffel Market on Shelter Island, in 2015. Credit: Gordon M. Grant
Eight foreign workers have filed a federal human trafficking lawsuit alleging they were subject to sexual assault, discrimination and wage theft by the owner of a popular East End hot spot where they were sent for seasonal employment.
The workers, mostly women, allege they were spanked and groped by Marie Eiffel, owner of the eponymous waterfront market and boutique on Shelter Island. They said she also made derogatory comments about them and withheld tips, according to a complaint filed Friday in Southern District Court in Manhattan.
The workers named InterExchange, a New York-based nonprofit visa program facilitator, as a co-defendant in the suit, alleging the organization placed them to work for Eiffel and failed to act on complaints about the abuse.
“Instead of providing the advertised once-in-a-lifetime experience, [Eiffel and InterExchange] subjected [the workers] to the horror of Marie Eiffel, the owner of the market, who routinely spanked [them] on the buttocks, groped female employees’ breasts, choked employees and made sexually harassing, demeaning and discriminatory comments about their race and looks,” attorneys with Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles LLP in Islandia and Kalmanson Cohen PLLC in Manhattan wrote in the complaint.
One female employee alleged she was regularly kissed by Eiffel, and another said the store owner touched her on a private part of her body, according to the lawsuit. Two of the women said they were choked by Eiffel, and another alleged her arms were bruised when the employer grabbed her and dragged her into the kitchen while teaching her how to make a dessert.
Some of the alleged indiscretions occurred in front of customers or were recorded on video, the complaint states.
Eiffel did not respond to email and telephone messages seeking comment for this story. InterExchange also did not respond to messages. Attorney information for the defendants was not on file with the court Tuesday.
The employees, who each worked temporarily at Eiffel’s market for four months in 2021 or 2022 are residents of Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia and Ecuador, according to the lawsuit. They paid recruiters more than $1,000 each to be placed in the J-1 visa program and stayed in housing Eiffel provided, their attorneys said.
“Marie terrorized these international workers and made them afraid to speak up under threat of termination,” attorney Michael Del Piano of Lewis Johs said in a statement. “J-1 students are particularly susceptible to exploitation because of their transient status in the United States and unfamiliarity with labor and employment laws in this country.”
The lawsuit cites violations under federal trafficking, state and New York City human rights and labor laws. The workers are seeking “tens of millions of dollars” in actual, statutory, compensatory, punitive and liquidated damages, their attorneys said.
Eiffel, a former musician and actor from Paris, opened her market, which specializes in French and healthy cuisine, in 2013, according to her website. She also owns a neighboring boutique and has opened seasonal outposts for her businesses in Greenport and Montauk.
After the market suffered pandemic-related financial hardships in 2020, Shelter Island residents started a GoFundMe campaign to support the business, which was promoted on social media by model and longtime East End resident Christie Brinkley, news outlets reported at the time. The campaign received donations from other celebrities with homes on Shelter Island, including comedian Louis C.K. and interior decorator Jonathan Adler, as well as French actor Charlotte Gainsbourg. The campaign ended up raising more than $179,000.
The J-1 visa program, adopted by Congress in 1961, aims to increase mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries through educational and work opportunities, according to its website. The program is used by many East End businesses to solve a seasonal labor shortage each summer.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
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