$175k Settlement in Carmel Restaurant Sexual Harassment Suit

To resolve a federal sexual harassment lawsuit filed on behalf of both male and female workers at California’s Carmel restaurants, owner/operator JCFB, Inc. agreed to pay a settlement of $175,000. The settlement agreement and amount was announced January 9, 2020. 

Sexual Harassment Suit Alleges Multiple Incidents:

According to the harassment lawsuit, one the the male line cooks working at Porta Bella Restaurant was repeatedly “grabbed” inappropriately; with his “private parts” being grabbed on numerous occasions by the kitchen’s manager, the chef and the cook. When the line cook reported the inappropriate behavior to the owners of the restaurant, they dismissed it as “only play.” After the dismissed report of the inappropriate behavior, the line cook claims that the chef became irate and confronted him, yelling and hitting him and finally forcing him to quit his job at the restaurant. The lawsuit alleges that the restaurant did not adequately investigate the incident or appropriately discipline the harassers.

Multiple Employees Came Forward with Harassment Allegations:

A female dishwasher working at Mediterranean Restaurant claims she endured sexual comments daily and regular unwanted and inappropriate physical touching by the same kitchen manager that harassed and retaliated against the Porta Bella Restaurant’s line cook. She informed her manager at Mediterranean Restaurant, and while it was a different manager than the one who handled the line cook’s complaint at the Porta Bella, the response was similar. The sexual comments and inappropriate behavior continued unchecked.

Workplace Harassment Violates Employment Law:

Both situations noted above are alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibiting sexual harassment in the workplace. The harassment lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern California District. Before filing the lawsuit the parties involved did attempt to reach a pre-litigation settlement through a voluntary conciliation process.

Defendant Settles the Harassment Lawsuit for $175K:

The $175,000 settlement is part of a three-year consent decree ordering JCFB to pay the two former workers and provide anti-harassment training to their employees working at either Carmel Restaurant location. The JCFB is also required to work with an external consultant to monitor any future hostile workplace complaints. Doing so will hopefully assist the company as they implement effective HR practices to ensure proper training and appropriate investigating will occur as well as necessary disciplinary measures for those in violation of higher workplace standards. The changes will be made in hopes that incidents of harassment will be curbed at restaurant locations.

It doesn’t matter if the harassment is verbal or physical or if the victim is male or female, employers have to take incidents of workplace harassment very seriously and dedicate themselves to ensuring their service industry workers are protected from hostile work environments. 

If you are experiencing discrimination in the workplace or if you need to file a discrimination lawsuit, we can help. Get in contact with Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik DeBlouw LLP. Experienced employment law attorneys are ready to assist you in any one of various law firm offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Chicago.