Two former cashiers at the Mattick's Farm Red Barn Market are breaking their silence over allegations that they were secretly filmed in the bathroom by a male co-worker.
"I was shocked and very violated. It's hard... you don't know how to react. It's very traumatizing," says Jennifer Burke, who's behind the proposed class action lawsuit along with Mallory Colter.
“This case, and dealing with this right now, is helping us to move forward,” Colter told reporters on Tuesday.
The women are telling the story in their own words. Burke says it all started when she was contacted by Saanich Police two years ago. "They had explicit photographs of me that they believed I did not know existed."
The pictures, they claim were taken from the bathroom camera, were posted on a Russian revenge porn website along with women's Facebook profile photos and their names.
They claim other women were caught in the hidden camera video.
Burke says they were frustrated at how long the criminal investigation was taking, which is why they went for the civil lawsuit. "We had hoped that it would go through the criminal system but it's been two years so we just wanted to make sure we could address it and have it come out so that people who are potentially also victims can be informed and that everyone can deal with it and then move on."
The lawsuit names a man who was an assistant manager at the time - Matthew Schwabe. It's alleged he is behind the hidden camera and they also claim he treated female staff members in a sexually charged manner.
Burke explains why Red Barn is also named in the lawsuit, "the guy was one of the [store] owner's sons. So they created a situation where they allowed this to happen in their stores. It was well known to management. There were several claims that he had a sexually charged attitude. And he was still there."
No one has been charged in connection with the case and none of the allegations have been proven in court.