In the surrogacy baby abuse case that broke out in Arcadia, Southern California, the real estate business run by 65-year-old man Guojun Xuan and his 38-year-old wife Silvia Zhang involved at least two cases of harsh treatment of employees and wage deductions. They were sued by employees, one of which is still under trial in court.
This surrogacy baby abuse case is really appalling. One of the employees who filed a class action lawsuit, Tina Powers, the former real estate business assistant of Guojun Xuan and his wife, directly pointed out that the two were engaged in improper business practices.
Powers claimed that the mansion currently involved in the case of Guojun Xuan and his wife was previously used by Guojun Xuan to run a real estate company called Yudao Investments. In 2022, she worked in the company for six months as an assistant to Guojun Xuan.
She said that Guojun Xuan and his wife often treated employees harshly, working more than 8 hours a day without overtime pay, and most of them did not even have at least 30 minutes of meal and lunch breaks.
Bowers said that when she worked for the couple, many rooms in the mansion were converted into offices, and cameras were installed everywhere. Around July 2022, Yudao Investment moved out of the mansion and moved to an office building in Arcadia.
She also said that she had never witnessed any child abuse, but the couple often yelled at each other and threw things at each other, which was unacceptable. The couple would also fire people at any time, and the employees who filed a class action lawsuit had only worked for a few months.
Bowers said that after speaking up for herself and her colleagues, she was fired in September 2022. So in December 2023, she and five other employees filed a lawsuit against Xuan Guojun and his wife in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, and the case is still under trial.
Xuan Guojun and his wife and their representative lawyers declined to comment on the lawsuit.
In addition to this class action lawsuit, another employee, Alejandro Diaz, also sued Xuan Guojun and his wife in July 2022, accusing them of improper dismissal, beating, personal assault, and withholding overtime pay. The lawsuit alleges that Xuan Guojun even threw rocks at him and threatened to kill him with a gun after an argument. He was fired just eight days into the job after the conflict.
Diaz accused Xuan Guojun of creating a hostile work environment and yelling at employees, so he filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, but reached a settlement earlier this year with a confidentiality clause.
