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The New York Times
N.Y. / Region
Tavern on the Green
Pays $2.2 Million
to Settle Bias Claim
By Steven Greenhouse,
nytimes.com on the Web, June 2, 2008
Tavern on the Green, the restaurant
on the western edge of Central Park, has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a
racial discrimination lawsuit filed last fall by the federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission. In a news release announcing the settlement, the
commission said on Monday that Tavern on the Green had “engaged in severe and
pervasive sexual, racial and national origin harassment of female, black and
Hispanic employees.”
The federal commission said the sexual harassment had included graphic comments
and demands for sexual acts, as well as groping of women’s buttocks and breasts.
When the commission filed the lawsuit last September, it also said a top manager
had engaged in severe harassment of black employees and had harassed Hispanic
employees, sometimes addressing them as “ignorant immigrants” and ridiculing
their accents.
Moreover, the commission said the restaurant had retaliated against employees
for refusing to consent to the harassment or for objecting to it.
As part of the settlement, a claim fund of $2.2 million will be allocated to
victims of the harassment and retaliation. In addition, the restaurant
will establish a telephone hot line that employees can use to raise any
discrimination complaints.
When the E.E.O.C. originally filed the lawsuit, Mara Levin, the restaurant’s
legal counsel, said, “Tavern on the Green takes allegations of this nature very
seriously and is committed to providing a working environment free from
harassment and discrimination of any kind.”
Tavern on the Green, which opened as a restaurant in 1934, describes itself as
“the highest-grossing independently owned restaurant in the United States with
annual revenues in excess of $34 million and over half a million visitors a
year.”
The E.E.O.C.’s district director for New York, Spencer H. Lewis, said, “This
case should remind employers to take seriously allegations of harassment and
retaliation, especially where managers in positions of authority are involved in
the misconduct.”
The settlement was approved on Monday by United States Magistrate Judge Andrew
J. Peck of the Southern District of New York.
When the E.E.O.C. filed the case last September, it asserted that the restaurant
— not just one manager — was guilty of sexual harassment because it “knew or
should have known of the severe and pervasive harassment, yet failed to exercise
reasonable care to prevent and correct promptly the harassing behavior.”
The settlement calls for Tavern on the Green to distribute a revised policy
against discrimination and retaliation and to provide training to all employees
against discrimination and retaliation.
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