Posted on 11/11/2009 2:44:56 PM PST by dennisw
* EEOC says male employees had "lived in fear"
* Company to pay $345,000, denies wrongdoing (Adds Cheesecake Factory statement)
NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory Inc (CAKE.O) will pay $345,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing it of allowing male kitchen staffers to sexually harass other male workers in a restaurant near Phoenix.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced the settlement on Tuesday. It resolves charges that the company knew about and tolerated repeated sexual assaults at the Chandler, Arizona restaurant.
The settlement of the 16-month-old lawsuit also calls for Cheesecake Factory to improve training and appoint an ombudsman to address sexual harassment claims by employees.
The settlement of the 16-month-old lawsuit also calls for Cheesecake Factory to improve training and appoint an ombudsman to address sexual harassment claims by employees.
"Beyond the lavish decor that the company boasts on its website was a horribly dysfunctional workplace where male workers lived in fear," Mary Jo O'Neill, regional attorney of the EEOC district office in Phoenix, said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Looks like the gay employees were bothering the other guys. What can you say about a place called “cheesecake factory”?
“What can you say about a place called cheesecake factory?”
Not nearly as much as if it were called the Fudge Factory.
allegedly
Beyond the lavish decor? What? It was a chain restaurant, not the French Laundry or Daniel Boulud’s.
This is like the failure to fully investigate Nidal Hasan prior to the Ft. Hood shooting. Authorities had plenty of indications that there was going to be trouble. But because of political correctness, the authorities didn’t do anything ... and now the price must be paid.
In the case of Nidal Hasan they were afraid to investigate because he was a Muslim.
In the case of the Cheesecake Factory, they were afraid to investigate because the offenders were gay.
Same thing happened to some of the Equinox branches in NYC —equinox is a high-end fitness club.
The clean-up staff is almost all Mexican, and late at night male members of the Equinox were boning each other in the steam room pretty openly —like Caligula, or much worse, I heard.
There was a mgmt. policy of willful neglect, and the staff felt that they were expected by management to put up with anything, and forever.
So Equinox got busted.

"well there goes the craving for ginger snaps"
Insert obligatory “Beefcake” joke here.
(Er, I didn’t really mean anything by “INSERT”, so get your minds out of the gutter....)
Sounds like some folks didn’t read “Kitchen Confidential”.
Bourdain’s story about how he handled an ass grabbing line cook delineates both problem and solution- 20 years ago.
You have to wonder if hate crime legislation will discourage some males from defending themselves from sexual advances in a traditional manner. If a gay guy ends up with bruises, cuts and other wounds, the victim of the sexual advance could be charged with assault. The unwanted sexual advance becomes a he said/he said thing.
I guess you need to get a witness to the advance made and subsequent ass kicking.
“Hey, how did that fruitcake get in here?” is hardly harassment.
My dad was COO of a company that shall remain nameless, and even back in the 1980s had a problem with the cakeboys and lesbos sexually harassing “non-receptive” fellow employees. Led to many a lawsuit.
That's nothing. The local Bally's when I lived in Miami was notorious for steam room "action" during regular business hours.
Remember that Equinox is the place where a gay guy got pounced for yelling "you go girl!" not too long ago.
Gay men, when protected by managment, can be extremely sexually aggressive towards men. They should get their asses beat each and every time - management or no management. Never should men or women tolerate aggressive sexual harassment.
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