Seafood Chain to Pay $200K over Sexual Harassment Suit in Illinois

Long John Silver’s will pay $200,000 and furnish other relief to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced.

The EEOC charged that Long John Silver’s violated federal law when it subjected a teenage female employee at its Centralia, Illinois restaurant to sexual harassment. The federal agency said that the company failed to stop harassment by two adult male managers and retaliated against the teenage employee when she objected to the harassment. The alleged harassment by the two adult male managers included lewd comments, unwanted touching, propositions for sex, and sexually explicit text messages and videos. The teenage employee alleged that Long John Silver’s refused to investigate her complaint and reduced her hours in retaliation.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about it. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. LJS Opco Two, LLC d/b/a Long John Silver’s Store #70250, Civil Action No. 3:21-cv-00717) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on June 25, 2021 after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settle­ment through its conciliation process.

The two-year consent decree settling the suit requires the company to pay $200,000 to the former employee. The decree also mandates harassment prevention policies and training on Title VII’s prohibition on sex harassment and retaliation, the posting of notices regarding the settlement, and periodic reporting to the EEOC of sex discrimination complaints received during the duration of the decree.

According to company information, Long John Silver’s operates 190 fast food restaurants throughout the United States that specialize in seafood.

Source: EEOC

Topics Lawsuits Illinois