Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's company sued by 40 past interns

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have responded to a class-action lawsuit filed by about 40 former interns of their company Dualstar Entertainment Group.

Parsons School of Design grad, Shahista Lalani, is the main plaintiff in the lawsuit, who claims she was treated poorly and forced to work 50-hour work weeks without pay.

In the lawsuit, Lalani said the head technical designer for the Olsen twins’ clothing line The Row was “very demanding,” Page Six reports.

She claimed, “I was doing the work of three interns. I was talking to her all day, all night. Emails at nighttime for the next day, like 10 p.m. at night.”

Lalani also claimed in the lawsuit that she was hospitalized due to dehydration at one point in her internship.

“You’re like an employee, except you’re not getting paid,” she said. “They’re kind of mean to you. Other interns have cried. I’d see a lot of kids crying doing coffee runs, photocopying stuff.”

Lalani mentioned the Olsen twins themselves, saying she occasionally saw them at meetings and they were “really nice people,” adding, “They were never mean to anyone. They’re business people.”

In a statement to E! News, Dualstar responded, "The allegations in the complaint filed against Dualstar are groundless, and Dualstar will vigorously defend itself against plaintiff's claims in court, not before the media."

image via Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com