09-21-2022
According to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), two Chili’s Grill & Bar Restaurants in Arkansas and Texas subjected teen, female employees to sexually hostile work environments in violation of federal law.
In Benton, Arkansas, the EEOC alleges that Chili’s violated federal law when it subjected female teens to sexual harassment by a 33-year-old male cook. The harassment involved physical assaults, forcing one of the victims to resign. In the Prosper, Texas location, the EEOC alleges that the primary sexual harasser was a 36-year-old male employee who grabbed and touched a female employee from behind and made vulgar sexual comments to her in both English and Spanish. The charges indicate that other male cooks and hourly employees repeatedly made sexual remarks about teen employees.
According to both lawsuits, the restaurants hired teens, failed to train them on their anti-harassment policy, and failed to monitor the workplace to provide a safe working environment. In addition, both restaurants failed to take proper action when teens complained about the sexual assaults. One restaurant continued to schedule a teen to work shifts with the alleged harasser and both restaurants failed to conduct any onsite investigation and instead relied on offsite “Team Member Relations” employees who failed to investigate adequately.