Hurricane Grill and Wings pays $200,000 to Settle EEOC Sexual Harassment and Retaliation Suit

Hurricane Grill and Wings restaurant in Royal Palm Beach, Florida will pay $200,000 to settle a class sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of the restaurant’s waitresses, according to a Consent Decree filed with the United States District Court of Florida for the Southern District of Florida. The EEOC’s lawsuit charged that the company violated federal law when it permitted a class of female servers to be sexually harassed by a customer, a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy. Later, the EEOC said, the company fired a female server after management learned she had hired a private attorney to assist her in filing an EEOC complaint. The case against Hurricane Grill and Wings alleged that the servers were frequently grabbed on their breasts and buttocks and humiliated by sexual innuendo, as well as by direct invitations to join the harasser and his wife in ménage a trois. Sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about it violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.