Cracker Barrel has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of sexual harassment, racial harassment, and retaliation at three restaurants in Illinois.
For a Limited Time receive a
FREE HR Report "Top 10 Best Practices in HR Management." This comprehensive special report will give you the information you need to know about these current HR challenges and how to most effectively manage them in your workplace.
Download NowUnder the terms of the settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 51 current or former employees at the three Cracker Barrel restaurants in Bloomington, Mattoon, and Matteson will share in the $2 million settlement fund.
In addition, Cracker Barrel will be required to train all employees at the stores regarding harassment, to post a notice regarding the outcome of the lawsuit, and to periodically report any complaints it receives about sex or race discrimination to the EEOC.
In the lawsuit, the EEOC alleged that female workers were subjected to unwelcome and offensive sexual comments and touching from male co- workers and managers. The lawsuit alleged that management failed to take the women's complaints seriously.
"But this case wasn't just about sexual harassment it was also very clearly about race," says June Calhoun of the EEOC . "Black employees said that they experienced racially charged language in the workplace, including 'spear chucking porch monkey,' 'you people,' 'ghetto' and the 'n-word.' They said that the discrimination they experienced took other forms as well, including being required to wait on African American customers when white servers refused to do so, and being assigned to work in smoking sections."