Latest news with #BiplaviMagar
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Woman allegedly sexually harassed by boss in Sydney restaurant speaks after record payout
Warning: This story contains details of sexual harassment some readers may find distressing. When Biplavi Magar's bus pulled up outside her workplace — she couldn't physically move. "I couldn't get myself off the bus. I just saw the station go right past by me," she told the ABC. She was due to start her next shift at Mad Mex in Sydney's Hills District, a place where she alleged she had experienced months of sexual harassment by her manager. "I was begging myself to get off the bus. I was remembering rent, uni, just to survive the life over here, and … I couldn't." Ms Magar had moved to Australia from Nepal when she was just 18, wanting to discover herself in a "land of opportunities". She began working at Mad Mex in 2021, just before turning 21. Almost two years later, the alleged behaviour by her boss, the franchise store owner, Sher Khan, began. "I just wanted to keep my head down and keep working. If I do my job properly, nothing would happen to me," she said. "Being a migrant and being a student on top of it … I just wanted to survive this." Earlier this month, the Federal Court awarded Ms Magar a record $305,000 in damages for sexual harassment, victimisation and aggravated damages, surpassing the previous $268,000 awarded to a jewellery store worker in 2023. Now she has spoken publicly about the ordeal for the first time to the ABC. "I wanted to tell my story from my side … instead of someone else telling what I might have thought, or what I might have done." The case has ramifications beyond the payout for Ms Magar, said her lawyer, Seri Feldman-Gubbay from Redfern Legal Centre. "This case sends a very important warning to employers that sexual harassment is not only unlawful but will be taken seriously and will result in serious consequences if claims are brought in court," Ms Feldman-Gubbay said. "Every year we're seeing an upwards trend in the amount of damages that are being awarded in these types of cases." The payout included $175,000 in damages: $10,000 for victimisation over threats Mr Khan made to launch defamation proceedings against her when she first made a complaint, and aggravated damages of $5,000 arising out of the way in which Mr Khan's case was run at trial. The now 25-year-old alleged that during her entire employment at the restaurant, "the Group" — which included Mr Khan and three other men that worked at the store — made sexualised remarks about female employees and customers, commenting on their "boobs" and "camel toe", even calling them "skanks" and "whore". By 2023, Ms Magar alleged Mr Khan began asking her sexualised and intrusive questions, including commenting on her coming to work with a hickey. "It kind of felt like I was inside a glass box and everybody was dehumanising me and humiliating me for my personal choices," she said in her evidence. She told the court her employer began sexually harassing her in "various ways" when he would ask her to come with him on jobs in his car, including showing her his "porn iPad" and a bag of sex toys. "…at some point he asked what my vulva looked like," she said in her evidence. "Following that, like, he asked me what other colleagues of mine I would f**k, and started naming the colleagues, to which I answered, 'No', to all of them." She said some of those colleagues were just 13 or 14 years old. On January 29, another incident took place in his car where he allegedly took a bag of sex toys out of his boot, including dildos and vibrators. She told the court he touched her inner thighs with the toys asking her how it felt. "My body was protecting me by being silent and being frozen in one place," she told the ABC. "There was a lot of begging going inside my mind, like, OK, just want to end this … thing." Mr Khan, who is almost 62 years old, has denied any wrongdoing, claiming he was impotent and could not be sexually aroused. Justice Bromwich concluded his physical inability to carry out certain sexual acts did not provide any compelling basis that he did not talk about them. "Boasting or bravado about fictional sexual exploits is notoriously an aspect of sexual harassment," he said. The judge said several elements of the arguments put forward by the defendant were "scandalous" and "offensive". Ms Feldman-Gubbay said the aggravated damages were what made the case so significant. "In this case, some of the arguments that were made by the other side in defending the claim were ultimately found to be 'offensive' and 'scandalous' and the judge ordered aggravated damages in respect of those arguments," she said. "Lessons can be learned for lawyers who have to respond to these types of claims in future or the way you defend the claim, does not rely on outdated or antiquated views about how people respond to sexual harassment. Steps must be taken to ensure that the defence doesn't victim blame or further traumatise the victim-survivor." Ms Magar has not worked for two-and-a-half years, saying in her evidence that Mr Khan's conduct had "profoundly affected all aspects of her life, including her ability to work, socialise and look after herself". She told the court she felt "humiliated, powerless and helpless" like she was not "human enough". She told the ABC for up to a year after she stopped working at the restaurant, she was unable to go outside, at times bedridden. "It was really scary to go outside. It gave me severe social anxiety. It felt as if everybody was sexualising me," she said. "It took a while for me to reach out to my friends or like my family even, back in Nepal, it was a very hard conversation to have. "I started having trust issues within my close friends or even my family. Like I didn't really know … if I could trust them with such sensitive and vulnerable information." In his judgement Justice Bromwich said he did not have any occasion to doubt Ms Magar was telling the truth about Mr Khan's conduct. "She had experienced a positive relationship with Mr Khan, which was likely to be particularly important for a young woman, with no family support in Australia, who had experienced significant mental health problems in the near past," he said. "This man was now using his position of authority to engage in unwelcome sexual conduct, and employment by his company was her source of income." The case is the highest awarded under the Federal Sex Discrimination Act. However in 2015, a post-office employee in Victoria was awarded more than $330,000 damages under breaches of that state's sexual harassment provisions. The case is one of the first to involve new sex-based harassment provisions that came in following Respect at Work legislation. These provisions were created to bridge the gap between sex discrimination and sexual harassment. Employment lawyer Katie Sweatman said Judge Bromwich's approach, which takes into account the behaviours that contribute or lead to sexual harassment, has changed the way the law is viewed. "It's one of the most significant payouts seen out of the federal court, and that was really a factor of the vulnerability of the applicant in question, who was a young woman," she said. "This case is quite significant for legal practitioners because it's the first one that really considers those new provisions in particular detail. "While Judge Bromwich found that the conduct in question didn't meet the technical definition of sex-based harassment, he did accept that the behaviours that were being complained of did absolutely create an environment which really festered and enabled the sexual harassment to occur. "And that's a really significant development in how the law is being viewed in this space." In a statement, a Mad Mex spokesman said the company condemns harassment and was "deeply saddened" that Ms Magar was the subject of such unacceptable behaviour and the matter was immediately investigated by an external law firm. "Mr Khan is no longer a Mad Mex franchisee." The lawyer representing Mr Khan told the ABC that his client denied the allegations and considers the judgement to be incorrect. He is considering an appeal.
News.com.au
06-08-2025
- News.com.au
Mad Mex worker's record payout after sexual harassment case
A former staff member at a Sydney franchise of Mad Mex has been awarded a record sexual harassment payout after she took her ex-boss to Federal Court. Biplavi Magar is due to receive $305,000 after the court heard her former manager Sher 'Sonny' Khan harassed her while she worked at the Norwest — in Sydney's Hills district — franchise in early 2023. In one January 2023 incident, the court was told Mr Khan asked Ms Magar to accompany him to his car. When she got inside, he showed her pornography on his iPad. On January 12, 2023, the court heard Mr Khan asked Ms Magar 'sexualised and demeaning questions' about how she got a bruise on her neck and whether she got 'banged'. Mr Khan's alleged conduct also included asking Ms Magar if she would 'f***' her co-workers – but not himself – some of whom she told the court were 'like 13/14' years old. 'They were my brothers and sisters, like, kind of felt like that because they were younger than me,' she said. 'And, yes, I did tell him that.' The court was told Mr Khan showed Ms Magar a Coles bag with sex toys, including dildos and vibrators and touched her inner thigh with a sex toy. 'I just wanted to vomit,' she told the court. 'And then he told me, like, 'This is not the usual one that I use on my skank or, like, my whores, but, like, these are the new ones, so you can touch it if you want to'.' When she raised the issue with Mad Mex head office, the court heard, Mr Khan's lawyers sent Ms Magar a concerns notice requesting monetary compensation and an apology. In court he denied ever owning an iPad or sex toys or that such items were ever in his car. He also denied touching Ms Magar with any sex toys or asking her any questions related to sex toys. Justice Robert Bromwich on Friday awarded Ms Magar $160,000 in damages, eclipsing the previous record of $140,000 for a sexual harassment case. He also awarded aggravated damages for the legal conduct of Mr Khan and $130,000 for past and future lost earnings. 'I find that she was sexually harassed by Mr Khan and victimised for complaining about his unlawful conduct,' Justice Bromwich said. 'I am also satisfied that his conduct caused her to suffer loss and damage.' Justice Bromwich noted that Mr Khan was in his early 60s and 'several aspects' of his longstanding health conditions had 'rendered him impotent'. 'This was advanced in an endeavour to support his denial of comments attributed to him by Ms Magar,' he said. 'Although not explicitly put, it was suggested that he could not have been physically aroused, making it improbable that he would have made the comments as alleged.' The judge, however, found that a physical inability to carry out certain sexual acts did not 'provide any compelling basis for concluding that he did not talk about them as though they had really occurred'. His lawyers argued that his various medical conditions rendered it 'unlikely, and even to a degree impossible', for him to have engaged in the alleged conduct. 'This conclusion is further strengthened if Ms Magar's evidence in that respect is otherwise accepted,' he said. 'The reason is that boasting or bravado about fictional sexual exploits is notoriously an aspect of sexual harassment. 'The conduct alleged was mostly verbal, and to the extent it was said to have been physical in nature, it was neither protracted nor strenuous. The judge found Ms Magar presented as a mostly calm and forthright young woman. 'She came across as somewhat naive and unworldly, giving her a real sense of vulnerability,' he wrote in his judgment. 'With the exception of giving evidence concerning her assertions of conduct which, if accepted, clearly amounted to sexual harassment, she was calm and clear.' Ms Magar was represented by Redfern Legal Centre, and its senior solicitor Seri Feldman-Gubbay. Ms Feldman-Gubbay said the 'landmark decision should act as a warning to employers: if you tolerate sexist workplace cultures, target vulnerable workers for sexual harassment, or threaten defamation proceedings against employees who speak up about sexual harassment, you will face the most serious consequences'. 'Our client, an international student with no income, would have had no viable path to justice without the support of a community legal centre and pro bono counsel,' she said. 'Despite legal intimidation at every step of this proceeding, our client persisted.'
Daily Mail
05-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Creepy Mad Mex owner ordered to pay young worker a RECORD amount after vile campaign of sexual harassment - and even his customers weren't safe
A young employee at a Mad Mex franchise in Sydney 's Hills District has received a $305,000 payout after enduring a pattern of sexual harassment by her manager. Sher Khan, 62, was found by Federal Court Justice Robert Bromwich to have sexually harassed the young Nepalese employee, and she was awarded $160,000 in general damages, a record for a federal sexual harassment case. The woman, Biplavi Magar, had been employed by Mexicali Enterprises Pty Ltd, a company owned and controlled by Khan which was a franchisee of Mexican themed fast food chain Mad Mex. Justice Bromwich also awarded Ms Magar aggravated damages, taking her total to $305,000, in large part due to the way in which her former boss had run his court case and the fact he had threatened her with defamation proceedings. During the case it was alleged Khan, who also goes by Sonny Khan, had showed the employee pornography during her work as a shift supervisor, brushed sex toys against her thigh, and made repeated sexualised remarks. Ms Magar outlined one incident in January 2023 when she said Khan pointed to a hickey on her neck and asked if she had enjoyed the night before as well as questioned her about who she had met and if she got 'banged'. She also said Khan asked her whether she would sleep with other employees at the Baulkham Hills store, including some as young as 13. Ms Magar also gave evidence that Khan asked her to get into his car, where he took out an iPad and pulled up explicit content on PornHub before he showed her sex toys in a Coles bag and, at one point, touched her thigh with one. She testified she froze and 'just wanted to vomit'. The employee claimed Khan had also led discussions in the workplace in which staff commented on customer's or former worker's breasts, bottoms and clothing, and called them 'skanks' or 'whores'. She claimed Khan asked her if she had ever had sex with a woman or watched lesbian pornography and when she said no, suggested that she 'loosen up' and experiment. Khan attempted to argue he could not have sexually harassed the woman because of serious medical conditions, including impotence. However, Justice Bromwich said his health conditions did not pose any restriction to sexual misconduct. 'There was nothing to suggest that he could not engage in other acts of a sexual nature that did not require a sex drive,' he said. 'His boasting about his exploits included describing acts which did not require him to perform sexually in a way that the medical conditions he described precluded, such as using sex toys or performing oral sex.' After Ms Magar complained about his conduct to Mad Mex human resources, Khan's legal representatives twice threatened to bring defamation proceedings against her. Justice Bromwich found the owner took this action to try to stop her from pursuing her complaints, and this amounted to victimisation that contravened the Sex Discrimination Act. The franchisee owner emphatically denied that he, or employees at the Norwest Marketown store, had stood around making derogatory comments towards customers or staff members. He also denied he ever owned an iPad or sex toys or showed the employee pornographic videos or asked her to attend a massage parlour or hotel with him. He also denied ever asking her which of her colleagues she'd like to have sex with, whether she used sex toys or describing his exploits with his ex-wife. Ms Magar testified the sexual harassment had left her bedridden 'most days', 'unable to prepare food to eat, get water to drink or get out of bed to use the bathroom without difficulty', and she became heavily dependent on friends and her partner. She said she felt dirty, had suicidal thoughts, and was afraid to leave the house alone or get another job. She has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and major depressive disorders. Justice Bromwich said Khan fostered a workplace culture that was disinterested in preventing sexist conduct from taking place and was instead tolerant, or even conducive to its continuation. 'Such a workplace culture can have the effect of normalising sexualised behaviour towards women and foster an escalation into worse behaviour, such as a progression into sexual harassment,' he said. In 2019, Khan spoke on behalf of Mad Mex at a conference in Fiji where he said the international expansion of the brand into Asia was fantastic, especially for franchisees. 'It takes the brand to the next level,' he said. 'Asia is a growth market with diverse cultures and adventurous appetites for great tastes and flavours, which is perfect for Mad Mex.' Ms Magar came to Australia in 2021 on a student visa. The supervisor initially also brought the case against Mexicali, but discontinued that claim after the company went into liquidation.
