CHICAGO — An Illinois company that owns several Italian restaurants in the Chicagoland area has settled allegations by the federal government that it subjected a female employee to sexual harassment and then fired her for complaining about the harassment and also the alleged racial discrimination she witnessed against her co-workers.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Rosebud Restaurants Inc., will pay $160,000 to settle the allegations by the federal government. The EEOC's allegations include Rosebud subjecting a female server, Tina Rosenthal, to sexual propositions, unwelcome touching and grabbing between the legs and sexual comments. Rosenthal, who is white, complained about the sexual harassment and also complained about racial slurs being used during company meetings regarding black employees. She was then fired by the company, the EEOC said.
"This case is an unfortunate example of what happens when an employer fails to act on a harassment complaint," EEOC Chicago District office regional attorney Greg Gochanour said in a statement. "If Rosebud had taken Ms. Rosenthal's complaint seriously, it may have been able to prevent another woman from being abused. Instead, the harasser faced no consequences when Rosenthal complained and was undeterred from harassing again."
During litigation of the case, the EEOC amended its complaint against Rosebud after learning of another female who was also sexually harassed during the same time period and location as Rosenthal. In addition, the EEOC also sued Rosebud in 2013 for failing to hire African-American applicants due to their race, which resulted in $1.9 million in monetary relief for the black applicants denied jobs.
The settlement involving Rosenthal includes Rosebud paying $160,000 in monetary relief to the harassed women, the EEOC said.