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The
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a class
litigation settlement under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for one
half million dollars and significant remedial relief in a case against
Fire Mountain Restaurants LLC, doing business as Ryan's Family
Steakhouse (Ryan's).
According to the EEOC's lawsuit, filed in
September 2008 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of
Kentucky, Paducah Division (Civil Action No. 5:08-cv-00160-TBR), Ryan's
subjected black and female employees to a sex-based and race-based
hostile work environment, as well as adverse terms and conditions of
employment. In some instances, black workers were terminated because of
their race. The EEOC charged that white employees were also harassed
because of their association with black coworkers and family members.
The mistreatment included being referred to as "n----r lovers" and
"race traitors" by white managers.
The EEOC also asserted that
female workers were harassed because of their gender, and all
complainants suffered retaliation for reporting the discrimination. The
sex-based hostile work environment included male managers physically
intimidating women, making sexual advances, and calling them
gender-related epithets such as "b-----s."
"Any company –
whether large, mid-sized or small – should know better than to allow
discrimination and harassment to run rampant," said EEOC Acting
Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. "No one should ever have to endure a
hostile workplace in order to make a living. Employers that continue to
violate federal anti-discrimination laws risk enforcement action by the
EEOC."
EEOC Regional Attorney Laurie Young of the Indianapolis
District Office, which has jurisdiction for Kentucky, said, "We are
pleased with the monetary relief obtained for the seven class members
in this case, particularly in light of the company's bankruptcy and
reorganization proceedings. Further, the remedial relief contained in
the consent decree, which is binding on any successor, will help create
a discrimination-free workplace going forward."
Buffets
Holdings, Inc. and all of its subsidiaries, including Fire Mountain
Restaurants, LLC, filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under
Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on January 22, 2008, in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (Buffets Holdings, Inc.,
et al., Case No. 08-10141-MFW). On March 11, 2009, the debtors filed
their Third Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization and the Plan was
confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court on April 17, 2009.
The parties
settled the case pursuant to an EEOC consent decree. Under the consent
decree, and as compensation for pre-petition harm, three claimants will
each receive $25,000 as allowed unsecured non-priority claims, while
three others will each receive $50,000 as allowed unsecured
non-priority claims – all to be paid pursuant to the confirmed Plan. A
seventh claimant will receive two separate allowed unsecured
non-priority claims, one for $25,000 and one for $200,000, both to be
paid pursuant to the confirmed Plan. As compensation for post-petition
harm, four of the claimants will also receive a portion of a $50,000
cash settlement fund for compensatory and punitive damages.
Along
with the monetary relief, the two-year consent decree provides for
substantial remedial relief. The Paducah restaurant is enjoined from
engaging in harassment on the basis of race and sex and from
retaliating against employees who complain about it. The employer also
agreed to monitoring by the EEOC, training its managers on
anti-discrimination laws, and posting a notice stating its commitment
to maintaining an environment free of racial and sexual harassment and
retaliation. The consent decree is binding on any successors and
assigns in interest.
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