Page, worth an estimated $15 billion, bought the luxury ship – which features a helipad, gym, and requires a crew of 14 – three years ago. He hired HF Interior to remodel the yacht, which then hired Grupinski to do interior work.
According to the lawsuit, Grupinski says he worked with toxic petrochemicals for 12-hour shifts in inadequately ventilated spaces, and was repeatedly denied requests for proper safety equipment.
Grupinski says that the fumes caused him to fall unconscious below deck, and that he was then carried to the surface. In the fresh California air, he began to vomit and bleed from his eyes and ears.
Instead of taking him to a hospital, HF Supervisors told him to “drink some milk” and “stop being a baby.”
He was fired the next day, before he could file a report, Grupinski says.
Grupinski claims that he had repeatedly appealed to his immediate supervisor, whose name could only be confirmed as Heidi, but that she refused to acknowledge that the fumes posed any danger. When Grupinski went over Heidi’s head, he was reassured that she would be replaced. Instead, Heidi was not replaced, and viewed Grubinski’s appeal to higher authorities as insubordination.
She told Grupinksi that he had “stabbed her in the back.”
According to the American Lung Association, breathing fiberglass particles like the ones Grubinski was exposed to can cause severe respiratory problems, as well as skin, eye, and throat irritation.
They strongly recommend using the proper safety equipment – gloves and breathing respirators – which Grupinski claims he was denied.
Grupinski says he is still receiving treatment for seizures, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, neuropathy, neurotoxicity, early-onset Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and supra-umbilical hernias.
