Federal Lawsuit Claims Marie Eiffel Market on Shelter Island Abused Foreign Workers

Eight foreign workers have filed a federal lawsuit against Marie Eiffel, the owner of a popular market on Shelter Island, and InterExchange, the company that arranged their visas, claiming they were the victims of human trafficking.

The workers also say they were sexually assaulted, verbally harassed and had their wages stolen while they worked at the Marie Eiffel Market in 2021 and 2022.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday, September 1, by two law firms, Lewis Johs Avallone Aviles LLP and Kalmanson Cohen PLLC, seeks tens of millions of dollars in damages.

The plaintiffs, all students from Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia and Ecuador, say in the suit that they paid thousands of dollars to participate in InterExchange’s Summer Work Program, which helped them obtain J-1 visas. They were placed in jobs at Marie Eiffel Market on Shelter Island, where, the suit alleges, Eiffel routinely spanked them on the buttocks, groped female employees’ breasts, kissed and choked employees, and made sexually harassing, demeaning, and discriminatory comments about their race and looks.

According to the suit, Eiffel acted as though she believed her behavior was funny. On at least one occasion, the suit claims, she ordered an employee to record her spanking another employee on the buttocks with a bunch of parsley while she laughed at the camera. A photograph from that incident was included in the 69-page complaint.

Eiffel “terrorized these international workers and made them afraid to speak up under threat of termination,” said Michael Del Piano of Lewis Johs and the lead attorney in the suit.

“J-1 students like the plaintiffs are particularly susceptible to exploitation because of their transient status in the United States and unfamiliarity with labor and employment laws in this country,” he said. “Marie took full advantage of the ability to exploit the plaintiffs. She assaulted, abused and demeaned them, and took their money, while hiding behind the veneer of her popular market and café that catered to the 1 percent crowd that worships her and her business.

“These brave workers are taking action against Marie and InterExchange to make sure that this horrible exploitation never happens to other J-1 students again.”

Del Piano would not disclose what may have spurred the eight workers to band together to file the federal lawsuit, but he said, “It’s difficult to advocate for themselves. They don’t know what their rights are in the U.S. or that they are able to exercise them in U.S. courts.”

Eiffel formerly owned a boutique in Sag Harbor. She also operates a shop in Greenport.

One allegation in the suit claims that Eiffel asked the J-1 workers to each make a homemade dish reflective of their culture to help her find new recipes for her market. One of the workers made Korean chicken and rice, which Eiffel rejected as tasting terrible before launching into a stream of verbal abuse, ordering the employee to get out of the kitchen and to stay out unless she was invited in, under threat of being fired.

The suit also charges that Eiffel made the employees work longer hours than legally permitted and failed to pay them their tips and promised bonuses, with Eiffel sometimes claiming she had lost the tips and threatening employees who questioned her about what was due them.

The suit also claims that InterExchange was complicit in Eiffel’s abuse. The suit claims the company encouraged the students to pay thousands of dollars for the opportunity to work in its Summer Work Travel program by promising it would place them in “safe working environments” and that it would monitor their placements. Instead, the suit claims, the company did not take any steps to help.

Del Piano said the case has been scheduled for a pretrial conference in mid-December.

Neither Eiffel nor InterExchange could be reached immediately for comment.