A Panda Express cook is suing the Chinese food franchise, claiming her manager physically assaulted her when he found out she was pregnant.
Romerian Logan, 19, has accused BiQing Liu, manager of the Panda Express located at the Newport Centre mall in Jersey City, of making negative comments about her pregnancy and suggesting she get an abortion last July before physically assaulting her a few weeks later.
The pregnant cook was 18 years' old at the time and had been with Panda Express, the largest Asian fast food restaurant chain in the United States with over 2,200 locations, since 2019.
Logan's lawyer, Margaret T Korgul, Esq. claimed Panda Express and BiQing Liu violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination by refusing to provide her with reasonable accommodation for her pregnancy, harassing her, abusing her physically and creating a hostile work environment - ultimately forcing her to leave her job.
Logan also accused Panda Express higher-ups of ignoring her complaint. She said she reported the incident to Human Recourses which failed to take action.
BiQing Liu, manager of the Panda Express located at the Newport Centre mall in Jersey City, has been accused of physically assaulting a pregnant cook
Romerian Logan, 19, is suing the Chinese food franchise, claiming her manager made negative comments about her pregnancy suggesting she get an abortion last July before physically assaulting her a few weeks later
According to the lawsuit filed last week in state court, when Logan shared the news of her pregnancy with her boss, Liu was reportedly disappointed and 'started making negative comments' about her pregnancy and 'suggested that she get an abortion.'
Three months later, Liu 'physically assaulted (Logan) by physically restraining her from leaving the workplace after her shift,' according to court documents.
The lawsuit alleged that the company, including several co-defendants that include 'natural persons' and 'commercial entities at present unidentified, knew Liu engaged in a 'continuous pattern of physical and emotional harassment,' but still faced no repercussions.
And according to the suit, Logan's bosses made her work environment increasingly unpleasant following her complaint.
She was assigned manual labor tasks like 'scrubbing jobs' that were more difficult to complete due to her pregnancy, it claims.
Logan said she was ultimately terminated by the company last December, just four months before giving birth a baby boy.
According to the New York Post, a representative of the Jersey City franchise said Liu has been transferred to another Panda Express location in New York City.
In 2021, Panda Express faced another lawsuit from a 23-year-old former employee, who claimed she was forced to strip down to her underwear during a 'cult-like' training seminar that was essentially required for her to earn a promotion.
Jennifer Spargifiore worked for a Panda Express in Santa Clarita, California, and sued the franchise for sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and a hostile work environment.
She alleged she was forced to strip to her underwear and hug a male participant also in his underwear during a training seminar conducted in July 2019.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elaine Lu ruled that Spargifiore was bound by the terms of agreements she signed in 2016 and 2018 in which she said she would arbitrate disputes.
Lu heard arguments on May 27 and then took the case under submission June 3.
In the court papers filed with Lu, Spargifiore’s lawyers note that retired Judge B. Scott Silverman found that there was no “agency relationship” between Panda and Alive and that therefore, the remainder of the plaintiff’s case alleging sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress should be decided by a jury, according to the Antelop Valley Times.
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