Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are getting slapped with a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court. Current and former interns at the Olsen twins' fashion label The Row claim they were treated unfairly and worked long hours with no pay, Page Six reported.
Shahista Lalani was the first intern to come forward. Court documents claim she worked 50 hours a week between May and September in 2012, according to the New York Daily News. An estimated 40 unpaid interns may be eligible to join in on the class action lawsuit, which accuses Dualstar Entertainment Group (the Olsen-run company that owns The Row) of wage theft.
Lalani, a Parsons School of Design graduate, detailed her experience at The Row working for mean, demanding head designers and employees. Her varied duties included updating spreadsheets, photocopying, sewing, pattern cutting and running personal errands for other paid staff members. The suit claims interns should have been paid minimum wage plus overtime for their workload.
"The head technical designer was like, 'Go get my Advil. I need this and this because I'm feeling sick and I have this meeting,'" Lalani told Page Six. "She was very demanding."
"I was doing the work of three interns," she continued. "I was talking to her all day, all night, emails at nighttime for the next day, like 10 p.m. at night."
Lalani also told Page Six that she did see the Olsen twins occasionally during meetings even though she never worked for them directly.
"They're really nice people," she said. "They were never mean to anyone. They're business people."
