HelloFresh workers claim physical abuse and denied bathroom breaks in class-action suit

The contents of a HelloFresh meal delivery kit as seen on 3 January 2018. Photograph: Kristoffer Tripplaar/AlamyView image in fullscreenThe contents of a HelloFresh meal delivery kit as seen on 3 January 2018. Photograph: Kristoffer Tripplaar/AlamyBusinessHelloFresh workers claim physical abuse and denied bathroom breaks in class-action suitThe meal kit delivery service denies the allegations, saying it found claims to be ‘entirely without merit’

Workers at a HelloFresh facility in Newark, New Jersey, have claimed in court documents that they were verbally and physically abused and denied regular bathroom breaks, with one former worker telling the Guardian he experienced incontinence issues as a result.

The newly proposed amended complaint comes in a class-action lawsuit first filed in August 2024 against the food prep service giant and staffing agencies. A New Jersey state court judge is expected to review the amended complaint in a hearing scheduled for 23 October.

In the civil lawsuit, workers allege HelloFresh and temp staff managers took ID badges from temp workers that are required to be able to leave the facility, repeatedly threatened to call ICE and immigration authorities on workers, subjected workers to physical and verbal abuse, sexually harassed Hispanic female employees, and discriminated against the temp workforce that consisted primarily of Hispanic workers in violation of New Jersey’s anti-discrimination laws.

“Upon learning of these allegations, which date from 2023 and years prior, we conducted a thorough internal investigation and found these claims to be entirely without merit. We vehemently denied these allegations when this lawsuit was filed over two years ago, and we continue to vehemently deny them today,” the spokesperson said in an email.

In a reply to the lawsuit filed by HelloFresh in April 2025, the subscription-based meal kit delivery service denied the allegations in the lawsuit.

Action Staffing, On Target Staffing and ProStaff Workforce Solutions did not respond to multiple requests for comment but have moved to dismiss the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges HelloFresh assigned its Hispanic workers “the hardest work”, and that supervisors consistently made racist, abusive remarks to workers and berated them for speaking Spanish rather than English. The suit claims supervisors enforced a no-cellphone policy for Hispanic workers, while not enforcing it for others.

Luis Penafiel, a former temp worker at the HelloFresh distribution center in Newark, New Jersey, from November 2021 to August 2023, and a plaintiff in the lawsuit claims that the working conditions began to deteriorate shortly after he was hired. “We started to realize that because we were Latinos, we were being forced to do all these kinds of duties. We started noting the discrimination,” he said.

“We were afraid of punishment for complaining,” said Penafiel. “We want the authorities to listen to us and to realize the conditions that people are working under at these places.”

According to the complaint, workers also alleged Hispanic workers were required to use a sign-out system in order to use the bathroom and that management policed the time they spent in the bathroom.

“There were many times I had to hold it for hours because they would note down the time you went in,” Penafiel said. “I had to go to the clinic to a urologist because I started experiencing incontinence, as I had to hold it for a long time and ended up getting infections.”