Blake Lively Faces Accusations of Toxic Work Environment as Former Employees Allegedly Received Hush Money

Blake Lively has been accused of fostering a “toxic” and “unprofessional” workplace culture when she ran her Preserve lifestyle brand.

Former employees have labeled her legal dispute with Justin Baldoni as ironic, given that she has accused him of creating a toxic work environment and sexually harassing her during the filming of “It Ends With Us.”

Blake Lively’s former workers also alleged that her brother, Eric, who ran her company, mistreated staff and sometimes left them out in the cold.

Reports from the Daily Mail indicate that several ex-staff members from Lively’s lifestyle brand, Preserve, have alleged that she herself cultivated a toxic atmosphere in the workplace, amidst her legal battle with Justin Baldoni.

Lively started the brand in 2014 and had to shut it down approximately a year later. In an interview with Vogue, she admitted that Preserve failed to live up to its initial purpose of making a positive impact on people’s lives, whether in a superficial or meaningful manner.

Now, sources have said a lot of “chaos” was going on behind the scenes, especially as her brother Eric ran the company.

“The entire company was an absolute disaster,” a former staff member said. “The workplace allegations that Blake is making now [against Baldoni] are deeply ironic, given that it was one of the most insane, toxic, emotionally draining, and disorganized environments you could imagine.”

The employees alleged that Eric frequently drank alcohol in the company, smoked pot, and even forced staff to work sitting on the floor for “months” before buying furniture.

“The impression [Blake] left on me after I worked at Preserve is that she doesn’t care,” another ex-employee said. “It was a really toxic work environment.”

According to the news outlet, the insiders went on to allege that Lively managed to cover up what happened behind the scenes with the help of her publicist Leslie Sloane.

Sloane has also been dragged into the “Gossip Girl” star’s lawsuit with her former co-star, Baldoni.

Many of Lively’s former staff claim they were forced to sign NDAs about the happenings at the company, and some reportedly got paid in settlements of up to $300,000 after threatening legal action over their treatment.

“Leslie Sloane shut it down,” one former staff member said. “They buried every single thing from that company.”

Perhaps, the most damning allegations revolved around reports claiming Eric had a reign of “chaos” over the company before its eventual implosion.

Preserve moved from its L.A. office to Eric’s studio apartment in lower Manhattan, after which he hired very young employees, but former staff claim he was “completely unqualified” to run a company and would often stretch employees beyond their capacity.

“[Eric] was completely unqualified to run a company,” one employee said. “There were a lot of ways in which the employment was unprofessional.”

“For many weeks or months, there were no desks. We had to sit on the floor. The irony of it being a lifestyle site that was selling these really expensive wares was not lost on anyone,” they continued.

Other former staff alleged that Lively’s brother would usually leave them out in the cold during weekday mornings, as he’s usually busy drinking or smoking.

“People would be outside in the cold, and he wouldn’t let them in because he was still lying in bed smoking a bowl,” one claimed. “He was taking lots of prescription pills. He would openly smoke. He drank too.”

They added, “We’d get to the office and it would smell like weed. It was clear he partied the night before.”

When the “toxic” culture became unbearable, senior staff reportedly set up a meeting with Lively to complain about Eric and ask for help in running the company, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“[Blake] immediately shut it down and said she wouldn’t be entertaining anything about her brother,” an ex-staff member alleged. “The entire meeting was about Eric, and Blake just didn’t want to hear anything about it, so it went nowhere.”