Restaurant Chain Will Pay $345,000 to Six Male Employees Who Agency Alleged Were Repeatedly Sexually Assaulted

Restaurant Chain Will Pay $345,000 to six male employees who alleged they were repeatedly sexually assaulted at The Cheesecake Factory in Phoenix, Az. The EEOC had charged that six male employees were subjected to repeated sexual harassment at the company’s Chandler Mall location in the lawsuit EEOC v. Cheesecake Factory, Inc., CV 08-1207-PHX-NVW. The allegations against The Cheesecake Factory are that the aggressors were directly touching victims’ genitals, making sexually charged remarks, grinding their genitals against them, and forcing victims into repeated episodes of simulated rape, all while managers witnessed employees dragging their victims kicking and screaming into the refrigerator according to the EEOC. Quote from Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney of the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office, “The evidence was clear, and everyone knew about it. Behind the lavish décor that the company boasts on its web site was a horribly dysfunctional workplace where male workers lived in fear.” When you spend money in these establishments it goes into the pockets of those who tolerated this kind of environment. Keep this in mind the next time that you pick a place to eat out at.