MARIA Elena Sapo has filed a civil complaint in Superior Court against Joy Lee Corporation, doing business as Green Consume Market, alleging wrongful and constructive termination.
Sapo also accused the store manager, Ren Wei Li, of assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and vicarious liability and wrongful and constructive termination.
Sapo, represented by attorney Cong Nie, has asked for unspecified damages in an amount to be proven in trial.
The complaint named Ren Wei Li and Joy Lee Corp. as defendants.
According to the lawsuit, JLC owned and operated a store/supermarket known as Green Consume Market in As Lito. Li was manager of JLC.
Sapo was employed by JLC as a cashier from 2017 to March 2022, and was paid by JLC around $1,200 to $1,300 a month.
According to the complaint, during her employment with JLC, Li often verbally harassed Sapo by telling her he wanted her to be his girlfriend, even though Li was married and knew Sapo had a boyfriend and was not interested in having a relationship with Li. Sapo said she kept telling Li that she did not want to be his girlfriend and that she had a boyfriend.
In addition to the verbal harassment, Li would sometimes put a hand on Sapo’s back as if to caress her, the complaint stated.
At first, Sapo said she did not quit her job or complain to the police because she was afraid of not being able to find another job to financially support herself.
On March 2, 2022, in the morning, Sapo was at the store to open it up. Li came to the store to deliver money. When Sapo received the money from Li, Li ran his hand across Sapo’s chest, the complaint stated.
It added that Sapo immediately wrapped her arms around to shield her chest from Li and looked angrily at Li.
The next day, on March 3, 2022, when Sapo reported to work at the Store, Li appeared to be upset about a minor error on the change book of the store that Sapo made. Li yelled at Sapo openly in front of customers in the store, the complaint stated.
Sapo explained that the error was due to her being the only cashier in the store at the time and being rushed and it was simply a bookkeeping error and not an error in undercharging a customer.
But Li continued to yell at Sapo in front of the customers. Li did so to embarrass Sapo and to show Sapo that she would suffer because she refused to let Li touch her, the complaint stated.
It added that Li knew Sapo needed a steady job to financially support herself. “Li knew it was not easy to find a steady job in the current economy on Saipan. Li’s intent in yelling at Sapo for a minor error was to intimidate Sapo and force Sapo to give in to his sexual harassment,” the lawsuit stated.
Sapo decided that she could not take it anymore and told Li that she was quitting her job and would call the police. Sapo did call the police and stopped working at the store. The police came and interviewed Sapo. When asked about video surveillance in the store, Li claimed that there was an issue with the cameras in the store and that there was no video surveillance of the incident, the complaint stated.
However, upon information and belief, the cameras were working, and the store did have video surveillance, the complaint added.
There was no report of malfunction either the day before or the day after regarding cameras in the store, the complaint stated.
Li just did not want the police or Sapo to have the video surveillance footage of the incident, the complaint added.
“As a direct and proximate result of Li’s harassment, Sapo suffered insomnia, felt constantly stressed, often cried and felt depressed due to the fear of not being able to financially support herself, and lost weight,” the complaint stated.
It added that upon information and belief, Sapo was not the only female employee of JLC sexually harassed by Li.
Variety was unable to get a comment from JLC or Li.
