Update/Correction: Texas Roadhouse Settles Lawsuit For Pressuring For Sexual Favors

This press release was sent to San Marcos Corridor News from Texas Workforce Commission. After the original article published, we were notified by a Texas Roadhouse official that this incident happened in Columbus, Ohio…..NOT Columbus, Texas.

Texas Roadhouse Restaurant Manager Subjected Class of Female Employees, Including Teens, to Abuse, Including Pressure for Sexual Favors

Columbus Restaurant’s Manager Subjected Class of Female Employees, Including Teens, to Abuse, Including Pressure for Sexual Favors

The owner and management company for Texas Roadhouse will pay $1.4 million to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the announcement, the restaurant manager allegedly harassed twelve women and teenage girls by touching them, making humiliating remarks about their bodies and sexuality, and pressuring them for sexual favors in exchange for employment benefits.

Although the companies’ owners and individuals with high-level authority received multiple complaints beginning in 2007 about the manager’s abusive conduct throughout his employment, they failed to take prompt, effective action to put a stop to the abuse.

The manager was not fired until May 2011, when he was seen on surveillance video touching a 17-year-old female employee in his office at the restaurant during work hours.

Harassment and discrimination based on sex violates Texas Labor Code Chapter 21 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. State and federal law forbids employers from firing or otherwise retaliating against an employee because of complaints about discriminatory conduct.

In addition to the $1.4 million in monetary relief to the victims, the five-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires the company to offer reinstatement to injured women in agreed locations and positions.

The decree prohibits the company from rehiring the offending manager. Further, the company must provide training to all employees on discrimination and retaliation.

Supervisory, management and human resources personnel are to be trained on their duty to monitor the work environment, how to receive and investigate complaints of harassment or discrimination; and how to respond to complaint effectively with corrective action.