FAILED TO ADDRESS RACIAL/SEXUAL TAUNTS & DISABILITY-RELATED SLURS
According to a press release issued by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), a fast-food franchisee doing business as Culver’s Restaurants of Cottage Grove (Minnesota) allegedly subjected its employees to various forms of discrimination and harassment. In addition to taunting a gay, African American employee with homophobic and racial insults, employees repeatedly used the “n-word and f-word, discussed his sex life, and referred to him as the restaurant’s ‘adopted African child.’”
A disabled employee was reportedly subjected to “bullying and disability-related slurs,” and is said to have been paid less than his “abled” co-workers. While female employees, as young as 14, were allegedly subjected to “unwanted sexual touching, jokes, and propositions.”
Even though these incidents were reported, management failed to take action, which reportedly forced at least one employee to quit his position.
Alleging that such conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, along with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the EEOC filed two suits in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota (Civil Action Nos. 0:23-cv-01501 and 0:23-cv-01506), seeking monetary relief together with a request for an injunction enjoying “future workplace harassment and pay disparities.”
In a written statement, Greg Gochanour, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Chicago District Office, observed, “These forms of discriminatory harassment in the workplace are never acceptable …. All employees – regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation or disability – should enjoy an equal right to safety, dignity, and respect in their place of work, and the EEOC will vigorously enforce that right, through litigation if necessary.”
That Culver’s was far from dove-like ….
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