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Benefits November 11, 2009
Cheesecake Factory Settles Suit over "Severe" Same Sex Harassment
November 11, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – National restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory, Inc. has agreed to pay $345,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
The EEOC charged that six male employees were subjected
to repeated sexual harassment at the company’s Chandler Mall location in
Phoenix, and that the company knew about and tolerated the assaults by male
kitchen staffers. However, according to the agency, the evidence overwhelmingly
showed that the men suffered what it called “severe” sexually abusive
behavior, and that managers even witnessed employees dragging their victims
kicking and screaming into the refrigerator.
Complaints to virtually every manager at the restaurant
were made, the announcement said, but they never acted on the claims. Victims said
they felt helpless, and one finally called the police.
“Behind the lavish décor that the company boasts on
its Web site was a horribly dysfunctional workplace where male workers lived in
fear,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney of the EEOC’s Phoenix
District Office, in the announcement.