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The employee at the Red Lobster in Woodbury said a male line cook repeatedly harassed her while management did nothing to stop it, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said.
. Where an employer knows or should have known that an employee has been subjected to unwanted conduct based on gender and that such conduct gives rise to a hostile work environment, the employer must take prompt and effective remedial action to stop the harassment, Platkin said.
An investigation revealed that the male line cook forcibly kissed the woman and touched her back and buttocks, Platkin said. Red Lobster provided no evidence that it properly investigated complainant’s internal complaint or took any disciplinary action against the alleged harasser, Platkin said.
The general manager interviewed the complainant and the alleged harasser at the same time in each other’s presence, Platkin said. Red Lobster denied the woman's request for a change in her schedule so that she would not have to work with the alleged harasser, Platkin said.
The woman left her job after the restaurant failed to address her report of sexual harassment and denied her request to no longer work with her alleged harasser, and after the restaurant allegedly told her that the harasser was “more important” to the restaurant’s operations than she was, Platkin said.
"Conditions of work became so intolerable that a reasonable person would be forced to resign," Platkin said.
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