The Battery — the invitation-only Jackson Square social club whose roughly 5,000 members pay $2,400 a year to mingle in a former marble factory fitted with a spa, a 14-suite hotel and a wine cellar of thousands of bottles — is being sued by two of its own hourly workers, including a 57-year-old dishwasher who says coworkers mocked him as "hunchback" and "useless" for years while managers told staff only to "stay professional."

Within a single week, two separate suits were filed against the club in San Francisco Superior Court, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which broke the story. Dishwasher Rene Panti sued on Aug. 6 for harassment, discrimination and retaliation; front-desk agent Donald James Goglio filed a proposed wage class action on July 30 listing 10 California labor-law violations. The Chronicle reported the Battery "is facing two dozen allegations" across the two cases — a legal challenge brought not by rivals or regulators, but by two of the people who work its floors. The club denies wrongdoing in both, and none of the claims has been tested in court.

Founded in 2013 by Michael and Xochi Birch — the entrepreneurs who sold the social network Bebo to AOL for $850 million — the Battery has sold exclusivity from the start. Its interior was curated by designer Ken Fulk; its members, whose identities are not public, are barred from recording video or posting to social media inside. The two lawsuits describe the workplace behind that discretion in far less flattering terms.

Panti, who has washed dishes at the club since 2021 for $23 an hour, alleges the harassment began in December 2022 and recurred weekly, according to the Chronicle's account of his complaint. He says coworkers ridiculed his age and his body — Panti is diagnosed with congenital scoliosis, a curvature of the spine — with insults in Spanish and what the suit calls "slurs" including "your penis doesn't even work anymore." The complaint alleges the conduct turned physical in 2025, when a coworker touched the "round area of his back" after Panti had repeatedly asked not to be touched, then pinched his nipples a week later. Panti also claims a bar manager told him in 2023, "You will never be promoted to work at the bar because your physical appearance does not conform to the standards of the company," the Chronicle reported. He says he was placed on unpaid leave in October 2025 over his disability, and that he is the sole support for himself and his disabled wife.

The Battery rejects that account. It told the Chronicle that Panti "remains employed," that the complaint "omits critical facts" about the club's investigation, and that it "intends to defend itself vigorously." SFist, which also covered the filings, reported the club found a coworker had hugged Panti without consent but concluded there was no sexual harassment. Panti's attorney, Steven Chizen of Oakland's Chizen Law, told the Chronicle: "We are confident that every allegation in the complaint will be corroborated — by coworkers who worked alongside him, by documents, and by the Battery's own records." Panti is seeking a jury trial and damages, plus changes to the club's workplace policies.

The second case is about paychecks, not slurs. Goglio's proposed class action, covering all non-exempt hourly employees over the past four years, alleges the club — "in order to unfairly cheat the competition and unlawfully profit" — failed to pay minimum wage and overtime, denied proper meal and rest breaks, sent late paychecks and did not reimburse business expenses, the Chronicle reported. The suit also alleges workers had their bags searched after clocking out, so were not paid for that time. On the wage claims, the Battery said it "maintains wage-and-hour policies and timekeeping practices intended to comply with California law and will defend those practices in court," and rejected any attempt to portray the issues as "companywide."

This is not the club's first wage fight: a separate wage-and-hour suit filed in 2021 was settled in 2024, court records show, per the Chronicle. Both new suits are at the earliest stage — no allegation has been adjudicated, the Battery contests both, and a wage class action must still be certified before it can proceed for any group. What is on the record so far is the complaints, the club's denials, and the fact that two employees decided within days of each other to sue the institution they help run.