Owner Abused Four Servers at Greensboro Tex-Mex Restaurant, Federal Agency Charges

ATLANTA - El Chaparro, Inc., a Tex-Mex restaurant in Covington, Ga., will pay $20,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The EEOC filed suit in 2016, charging that El Chaparro violated federal law when one of its owners sexually harassed four female servers at its Greensboro, Ga., restaurant location in 2013 and 2014. According to the EEOC's complaint, El Chaparro's general manager and co-owner showed the four servers pictures and videos containing sexual images, talked about the servers' sex lives, and showed the servers shirtless photos of himself on a regular, sometimes daily, basis. The servers complained about the sexual harassment to the restaurant's other owner, but the company failed to take any action to stop the harassment, the EEOC said. The Greensboro restaurant location is now closed and the four women no longer work for El Chaparro.

Such conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit (Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-4118-RWS-CMS) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Divi­sion, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

In addition to providing monetary damages to the servers, the consent decree settling the lawsuit requires El Chaparro to create and disseminate a handbook containing policies prohibiting sexual harass­ment. The decree also requires that the company provide annual equal employment opportunity training to its owners, managers and employees. The five-year decree further requires the company to post a notice to its employees about the lawsuit and to provide periodic reporting to EEOC about sexual harassment complaints.

"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."

Antonette Sewell, regional attorney for EEOC's Atlanta District Office, added, "The agency is pleased that El Chaparro agreed to resolve this case. 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."

Preventing workplace harassment through systemic litigation and investigation is one of the six national priorities identified by the EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP).

The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws prohibiting employ­ment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov.