American rapper and businessman, Kanye West is facing a legal battle from a group of former employees who have filed a lawsuit alleging a hostile work environment, including unpaid wages and discriminatory practices within his organization.
The lawsuit exposes a variety of workplace harassment and exploitation and is being filed against West and his former chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos.
According to the lawsuit, the developers employed to work on West’s YZYVSN streaming service app, were promised a salary of USD 120,000 upon completion of the app, but the developers allege that they were persuaded into signing nondisclosure agreements under threat of job loss and withheld pay.
Furthermore, a complaint cited that other employees were allegedly coerced to sign volunteer agreements, thereby waiving their rights to compensation.
The lawsuit explains that what birthed the legal action was when they requested their wages, both West and Yiannopoulos reportedly ignored their inquiries, adding that they were also subjected to racist remarks and derogatory statements such as “slaves” and “new slaves”.
The lawsuit seeks full payment of unpaid wages, compensation for overtime, and damages for emotional distress allegedly caused by the hostile workplace.
Additionally contained in the lawsuit are allegations involving West’s wife, Bianca, who reportedly sent explicit content to a worker under the guise of development for West’s pornographic app.