LONDON: A UK-based conglomerate and a plantation owner in Malawi which supplies some of Britain's biggest tea brands are being sued in London over allegations of rampant sexual violence against female workers.

British legal firm Leigh Day said on Sunday that it wanted financial redress for the women from their Malawi employer, Lujeri Tea Estates, and its British parent company PGI Group Ltd.

The complaint filed in London's High Court says women harvesting tea and macadamia nuts for Lujeri in southern Malawi were subject to at least 10 instances of rape and other violence at the hands of male supervisors.

One 39-year-old mother of two began to be sexually harassed by a supervisor soon after she started work for Lujeri as a macadamia picker in early 2018, and her pay was docked when she refused his demands, according to Leigh Day.