New York Paralegal Blog

HONOLULU - A Panda Express restaurant, part of the giant Chinese fast-food chain, subjected a class of female employees, including teenagers, to sexual harassment, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged in a lawsuit filed in Hawaii yesterday.

PHOENIX — A Phoenix, Ariz., Outback Steakhouse restaurant violated federal law by firing an employee on the basis of his disability and/or because he needed a reasonable accommodation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

INDIANAPOLIS – The owner of SAC Griffith, Inc., doing business as Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant of Griffith, Ind., sexually harassed a hostess and then terminated her due to her pregnancy, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Frankfort, Ky., restaurant has settled a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s suit, Jim’s Seafood Restaurant unlawfully fired a server because she was pregnant, and forced another pregnant server out of her job. Discrimination because of pregnancy violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The EEOC filed the suit (Civil Action No. 3:10-cv-00043) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The parties negotiated a consent decree which provides the employees with back pay and provides for injuctive relief in the form of training and an agreement not to discriminate or retaliate further under Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. ...

SAVANNAH, Ga. - A federal indictment, unsealed on 4/13/2011 in federal court, charged Oscar Lazo, 51, a citizen of Peru; Eva Ramos, 35, a citizen of the United States; Mauricio Cruz, a citizen of Mexico; Manuel Cruz, a citizen of Mexico; and an unnamed defendant with conspiring to sell the stolen identities of U.S. citizens. The charges follow an extensive undercover investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents in Savannah. The indictment alleges that beginning in July of 2010, Lazo and Ramos, both managers of a local McDonald's restaurant owned by NTG Enterprises, sold stolen identities to other prospective McDonald's employees, including Mauricio Cruz and Manuel Cruz, who used the stolen identities to obtain employment with the restaurant. Lazo and Ramos were also charged with harboring illegal aliens. All five were arrested on criminal charges today by ICE HSI special agents in Savannah. N...

MILWAUKEE -- The McDonald’s restaurant in Reedsburg, Wis. , owned and operated by Missoula Mac, Inc., violated federal civil rights laws by permitting male employees to create a hostile work environment of sexual harassment against female employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed this morning in federal district court in Madison, Wis. The EEOC filed suit on behalf of a class of women it said were subjected to sexual comments, sexual propositions, or physical touching by co-workers. The suit also alleges that some of the women were fired in retaliation for complaining about the sexually hostile work environment and that the harassment was so intolerable that at least one woman was forced to quit her job to avoid it. John Rowe, director of EEOC’s Chicago District, which includes Wisconsin, noted that the agency’s administrative investigation, which preceded the lawsuit, revealed that male employees at the Reedsburg McDonald’s mad...

Employees Fired for Complaining About Sexual Harassment, Federal Agency Charged KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Seymour ZX, LLC, the Tennessee subsidiary of a Georgia company and a franchisee of the Zaxby’s restaurant chain, will pay $20,000 and provide other relief to settle a retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s suit (Civil Action No. 3:09-cv-0434) in U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Knoxville Division, two employees of a Seymour, Tenn., Zaxby’s were fired because they complained about sexual harassment. Both employees were fired on the same day, the EEOC said, and banned from the store.