By Cyrus Farivar -
NBC News
Two people who used to work for the residence of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have filed a pair of lawsuits against the billionaire couple and the many corporate entities related to the family.
The cases assert that
family businesses are responsible for sexual harassment and discrimination by company employees
.
In both cases, Chan and Zuckerberg are named as defendants, alleging non-payment of wages, among other complaints.
The plaintiffs are Mia King and an unidentified man referred to as John Doe.
Facebook is not implicated in the allegations.
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The cases, which were filed in San Francisco County Superior Court last month, were reported Tuesday by Insider, which has reported on the allegations for the past two years.
Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Chan-Zuckerberg family, stated in an emailed statement that "individual multi-week investigations into the allegations" revealed that
"these claims could not be substantiated
.
"
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He noted that the family office "takes workplace misconduct complaints very seriously and promptly inquires into all such matters."
"Any complaints made to our human resources staff are taken seriously, investigated and addressed," he said.
"We are proud of the team of professionals who work in the family office and
we trust that these claims, which seek to unfairly discredit our colleagues, will fail,
" he added.
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LaBolt declined to answer further questions.
Court files describe King as a black woman from the LGBTQ community who served as a 'security operations assistant'.
He worked from May 2018 to February 2019 for Limitless Specialty Services LLC, which provides protective services for the Zuckerberg family.
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Similarly, Doe, an openly gay man, worked as a 'domestic operations manager' for the family from January 2017 to March 2019.
In her 29-page complaint,
King claimed that she was the subject of numerous degrading comments, including being called a “ghetto,” “p ---” and “p ----”
, as well as inappropriate opinions about her breasts.
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In addition, she alleged that when she raised her complaints internally, a colleague responded that "here men are in leadership, men are in power," which, according to King, justified those comments.
She also claimed that she was forced to work overtime and was not paid properly.
Doe stated in his 35-page complaint that he was in charge of "overseeing and managing various properties for the Zuckerberg family."
He alleged that in that position he
worked more than 40 hours a week and more than eight hours a day, “for which he was never compensated”
, and that on numerous occasions he was “forced to work seventeen hours a day to prepare a property before the arrival of the Zuckerbergs ”and was not paid overtime.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan in a Nov. 3, 2019 file photo.JOSH EDELSON / AFP via Getty Images
Doe said he suffers from epilepsy and was forced to perform tasks that aggravated his condition or posed a danger
, such as climbing stairs or carrying heavy objects.
He also assured that he
was sexually harassed and subjected to homophobic insults.
"Our clients hope to prove their allegations and seek justice in court," stated Colleen Mullen, attorney for King and Doe.
Neither Zuckerberg nor any of the other defendants have formally responded to the allegations in court.
No hearings have been scheduled either.