An Italian restaurant chain recently settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC alleges that female employees were subjected to egregious forms of harassment which were ignored by the management of the chain.

Sexual harassment is one of the most widespread forms of workplace discrimination in Baton Rouge and around the country. Sexual harassment can occur in a variety of ways including unwanted advances, lewd or sexually suggestive comments, and inappropriate questions of a sexual nature.

In the case of the Italian restaurant chain, the EEOC alleges that female employees were repeated subjected to lewd comments, requests for sexual intercourse, and grossly impropriate physical touching. The improper touching cited by the EEOC involved female employees being hit between the legs by vegetables which were also used to simulate sodomy. Two of the sexual harassment were teens at the time of this harassment.

The sexual harassment victims complained to the management of the restaurant chain but the situation was ignored. The EEOC settlement requires the chain to pay a $25,000 fine and stop subjecting its female employees to a hostile work environment.

"Allowing serial harassers to victimize female employees without facing consequences is a clear violation of federal law," said a regional attorney for the EEOC. "Managers must take swift action to stop this sort of abuse when they receive complaints of sexual harassment from their employees, especially when the complaints involve teenage employees who are in the work force for the first time."

Source: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, "Rafael's Italian Restaurant Settles EEOC Sexual Harassment Suit," Jan. 18, 2012