A young former Mad Mex employee has been awarded a record $305,000 in damages after the Federal Court found she was sexually harassed, victimised and subjected to aggravated harm by her former manager.
Biplavi Magar, who moved to Australia from Nepal at 18, told the ABC she could not bring herself to get off the bus for a shift in Sydney’s Hills District after months of alleged harassment at the Norwest franchise.
“I couldn’t get myself off the bus. I just saw the station go right past by me,” she said. “I was remembering rent, uni, just to survive the life over here, and … I couldn’t.”
Ms Magar began working at Mad Mex in 2021, shortly before turning 21. She alleged the harassment by franchise owner Sher “Sonny” Khan began almost two years later and included repeated sexualised comments, intrusive questions, and incidents where he showed her pornography and touched her thigh with sex toys.
“It kind of felt like I was inside a glass box and everybody was dehumanising me and humiliating me for my personal choices,”
she told the court as per AFR.
Earlier this month, Justice Robert Bromwich awarded Ms Magar $175,000 in general damages, $10,000 for victimisation after Khan threatened defamation proceedings, $5,000 aggravated damages, and $115,000 for lost earnings.
According to reports, the judge described aspects of Khan’s legal arguments as “scandalous” and “offensive”, including claims that her mental health caused false perceptions and that past exposure to pornography meant she would not be offended.
“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,”
her lawyer, Seri Feldman-Gubbay from Redfern Legal Centre told ABC.
It is further reported that Khan, who denied all wrongdoing, argued his impotence made the allegations improbable, but the court found this did not rule out sexualised comments or harassment.
“Boasting or bravado about fictional sexual exploits is notoriously an aspect of sexual harassment,” Justice Bromwich said, as per AFR.
Ms Magar said her decision to speak out was not just about compensation.
“It wasn’t just to get the justice or that kind of fairytale, it was more about making that person accountable,” she told 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.”
In a statement, Mad Mex said it “condemns harassment” and that Khan was “no longer a Mad Mex franchisee” after an external law firm investigated the matter.
Khan’s lawyer told the ABC he maintains the judgment is incorrect and is considering an appeal.
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