Miami

Woman Files Lawsuit Against Company Connected to Versailles Restaurant

A former employee of famed Miami eatery Versailles Restaurant claims her sexual relationship with the company's founder led to harassment and discrimination at her new job, according to a lawsuit filed last week.

Ayler Ayala claims she was "subjected to various acts of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and exploitations by one of the owners, Felipe Valls, Sr." while she worked at the restaurant from 2005 to 2009, according to the lawsuit.

Ayala is suing Global Miami Joint Venture, which owns the Versailles inside Miami International Airport, where she worked as a cashier from May 2010 to March 2013. She claims that her relationship with Valls affected her employment at Global Miami, which according to the lawsuit, is owned by Valls' family members.

In the lawsuit, Ayala claims that Valls would visit her at Versailles and place a $100 tip in her pocket after buying a $1.50 pastry. She says she asked him for full time employment at the restaurant, but he offered instead to buy her a new BMW to drive from one restaurant to the other as a secret shopper so she could report directly to him. She declined the offer, but eventually accepted his invitation to meet with him to discuss her "future" and "dreams," according to the lawsuit.

Ayala Complaint

Eventually, she did meet with him to discuss her future, but the lawsuit claims that it led to a "sordid" relationship with Valls. The lawsuit claims they engaged in sexual relations and that Valls requested Ayala engage in sexual acts with another female employee. Valls allegedly met with the women at the "Miami Princess" hotel, photographing and videotaping them naked in sexually explicit poses, the lawsuit says. He also met with Ayala in a secret room at the back of his private office in the restaurant that contained a bed and a bathroom and was "littered" with sex toys and paraphernalia, according to the lawsuit.

Ayala ended her sexual relationship with Valls in 2008 and started dating another Versailles employee, the lawsuit says. At some point later, Valls sought to resume his sexual relationship with Ayala, but she refused and was fired from the restaurant at the end of 2009, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that Ayala tried to make an unemployment benefits claim, but the restaurant told the unemployment agency that she never worked there.

Ayala was soon after offered a job at Global Miami through her father, who was also employed by Valls, the lawsuit says.

After about two years of working at the airport, Valls' family members discovered Ayala was still working at a Valls-owned entity, the lawsuit says. She claims her non-Hispanic supervisors at Global Miami began making discriminatory comments based on her Hispanic ethnicity, began micromanaging her work and gave her unfair disciplinary warnings, according to the lawsuit. She claims that when she complained about the harassment to her manager, no corrective action was taken.

Ayala eventually suffered an emotional breakdown at work in February of 2013, where Fire Rescue had to respond and treat her, the lawsuit says. She was discharged in March of 2013, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed by Ayala also names Global Concessions, Inc., Airport Concessions Group, Inc., and Gateway Concessions, Inc.

Attorney Reynaldo Velazquez, whose firm Ford Harrison represents all four defendants, told NBC 6 partner Telemundo 51 that Ayala's claims were "meritless" and called her a "disgruntled employee."

"The reality of the situation is that she did not present any complaints of harassment based on her being Hispanic until after she resigned her employment," he said.

According to Velazquez, Global Miami is predominantly owned by Hispanics and that 90 percent of its employees are Hispanic.

Velazquez also said Ayala received several written warnings based on her performance with Global Miami for reasons such as not showing up to work, showing up to work late and conducting personal business on company time. He said she was placed on final written warning before resigning.

Velazquez further vigorously denied he allegations of sexual abuse and said claims of a sexual relationship with Valls were a stunt.

"Those allegations regarding the alleged relationship she had with Mr. Valls are in that complaint for one reason and one reason alone, and that basically is to try and take monetary resolution in an otherwise entirely frivolous allegation and also to garner media attention," Velazquez said.

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