Yesterday, news broke that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are facing a class-action lawsuit from a group of 40 past and current interns who claim they were never paid for the work they did at the twins' licensing and manufacturing company, Dualstar Entertainment Group.
Now, the company is speaking out and denying these claims.
Dualstar representative Annett Wolf released the following statement Wednesday morning:
"As an initial matter, Dualstar is an organization that is committed to treating all individuals fairly and in accordance with all applicable laws. The allegations in the complaint filed against Dualstar are groundless, and Dualstar will vigorously defend itself against plaintiff's claims in court, not before the media. Dualstar is confident that once the true facts of this case are revealed, the lawsuit will be dismissed in its entirety."
The lead plantiff of the lawsuit, Shahista Lalani, claims she worked 50 hours a week from May to September 2012 under the head technical designer for The Row, without any pay.
"You're like an employee, except you're not getting paid," she told Page Six. "They're kind of mean to you. Other interns have cried. I'd see a lot of kids crying doing coffee runs, photocopying stuff."
She also claims she was hospitalized for dehydration because of the job's demands.
"It was like 100 degrees outside. I'd just be sweating to death. I probably carried like 50 pounds worth of trench coats" to Row factories, she said.
However, she had kinder words for the Olsen twins, whom she never worked directly for, but saw on occasion at meetings.
"They're really nice people," she said. "They were never mean to anyone. They're business people."
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