ATLANTA (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced May 8 that El Chaparro Inc., a Tex-Mex restaurant in Covington, Georgia, will pay $20,000 after allegations of sexual harassment.
"The harassment of female employees in the restaurant industry is far too common an occurrence," said Bernice Williams-Kimbrough, director of the EEOC's Atlanta District Office. "Employees should be able to go to work without fear and without being subjected to any kind of abuse."
According to the EEOC, an owner of the restaurant sexually harassed four female servers in 2013 and 2014. When the servers complained to the other owner of the restaurant, that owner did not take action. Alleged conduct of this nature violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
"The agency is pleased that El Chaparro agreed to resolve this case,” said Antonette Sewell, regional attorney for the EEOC's Atlanta District Office. “The women will be compensated monetarily, and the training and monitoring provisions in the consent decree will contribute to the agency's mission and, hopefully, ensure this will not happen to any other employees of this company."
The restaurant is closed and the four women no longer work for the company.