Del Taco fast food chain was hit with a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for discrimination against its female employees and subjecting them to sexual harassment. The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, cited violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
According to the lawsuit, various female employees of the taco chain were subjected to sexual harassment by their male superiors. The female workers, some of whom were minors at the time, were verbally and physically harassed by male shift leads and general managers of Del Taco. The harassment included sexual comments, comments on the females’ physical appearance, as well as unwanted physical touching. Some employees were forced to resign because of this hostile work environment. The lawsuit lists general managers, shift leaders and co-workers as alleged harassers.
Title VII of the CivilRights prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin as well as retaliation for opposing or reporting discrimination. When the female employees responded to this harassment per form of complaints, the lawsuit claims that Del Taco took retaliatory action by reducing their work hours. “Defendants knew…of the sexual harassment …employees complained about the sexual harassment to their supervisors, human resources, defendant’s 1-800 hotline, and or the EEOC, which notified the defendant of the complaint,” the lawsuit said.
Del Taco is one of the many restaurants and fast food chains that have been served with sexual harassment lawsuits, in the rise of the #MeToo movement. New York City has responded by producing the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act, which went into effect September 6 of this year.
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