Universal Music is one of the world’s largest entities in the corporate recording industry, so one would generally expect strictly professional working standards from the record company, right?
But a former employee of the Universal Music Publishing Group is said to be suing her former employers for what The Hollywood Reporter describes as “alleged labor violations, including a hostile work environment.”
The 41-year-old former security guard for UMPG is said to have taken out a lawsuit against the recording industry moguls over the allegedly heinous amounts of marijuana being smoked on the job and what can only be described as a ‘frat house’ like working environment.
According to the lengthy statement filed by the aforementioned anonymous woman, both executives and artists would frequently behave in a less than professional manner by participating in the use of marijuana other drug paraphernalia at the Universal headquarters in Santa Anna, California.
The report details incidents in which the woman witnessed “UMPG studio guests outside smoking marijuana/drugs; tenants and studio guests smoking in the courtyard; some UMPG employees complaining about marijuana smoke and guests seen smoking in hallways, in lobby areas, in front of building entrances, on side of building, in the stairwells, in the parking lot and other common areas.”
The unnamed woman further explains that when approaching her superiors about the issue, they’d often dismiss the complaints and even inform her when to “expect blazers” coming into the office. The filed complaint further reveals a list of alleged partakers in the drug use that the former employee personally witnessed, including “Macy Gray, guests of Jamie Foxx, MC Ren and guests, Rapper TI’s and his wife Tiny’s entourage, and Future, amongst other artists.” “It’s Adam Levine. You know from Maroon 5 … He can do whatever he wants … If he wants to come to the lobby and do a line of cocaine on the floor, it’s OK.”
Another artist apparently prone to ‘lighting up’ was said to be Maroon 5’s Adam Levine. The security guard describes one specific occasion when she complained about the smell of marijuana coming from a recording studio, her employer simply replied: “it’s Adam Levine. You know from Maroon 5 … He can do whatever he wants … If he wants to come to the lobby and do a line of cocaine on the floor, it’s OK.”
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On one particular incident the woman recalls being warned of an altercation between an artist’s security and entourage and being told to prepare herself “if a shootout or something goes down,” after witnessing marijuana smoke floating out of the studio that they were working in. The complaint also notes she was told to be on “high alert” when rapper YG and his entourage would visit, and to ensure there were no accessible firearms about.
The woman also went on to emphasize that the drug use was in no way a one-off event or a simple pastime between executives and artists.
The filing notes futher explain how the plaintiff and other UMPG employess would often notice “various studio equipment was becoming stained and affected by the marijuana smoking,” employees complaining about “finding bras hanging in the studio and people being found passed out in the showers after partying and drug use,” and how she began “witnessing UMPG employees engaged in intimate touching and grinding, involving buttocks and genitalia.”
The alleged behaviour stipulated in the lawsuit would seemingly be fit to describe a teenage share-house let alone one of the world’s largest corporate entities.
A spokesperson for the UMG’s further contacted The Hollywood Reporter stating “while we cannot comment on the allegations between the plaintiff and her employer, we can say that the allegations as they relate to Universal Music Group are absurd.”
The woman is now seeking protection as a whistle-blower under California’s legal statures, alleging discrimination, retaliation, being subject to unsafe working conditions, harassment, infliction of emotional distress and other allegations. She is demanding an unnamed amount in financial reimbursement for lost and future earnings, medical bills, and general punitive damages.
This isn’t the first time a label has found itself caught up in less-than-legal activities, as reported last year, Interscope Records’ involvement in drug related activities inwhich the major label was being used as a front for a cocaine scandal, implicating high profile artists Sean “P Diddy” Combs, ex-Fugee Wyclef Jean and LA-based rapper The Game.
A year-long investigation revealed that members of a narcotics ring were shipping the drugs in “road cases” that were delivered and picked up from the office of Interscope Records – home to artists like Lady Gaga, Eminem, and U2 – which oversaw the distribution of cash and cocaine worth millions of dollars.
