LOS ANGELES – Il Fornaio (America), LLC, a full-service, upscale Italian restaurant company that owns and operates 20 locations in California, Colorado, and Nevada, violated federal law by allowing a class of female employees to be subjected to sex-based harassment and retaliation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, Il Fornaio allowed a class of female employees to be subjected to sex-based harassment by male supervisors, managers, and co-workers. The harassment included repeated, frequent and offensive sex-based remarks, and unwelcome physical touching. Il Fornaio also failed to take preventative and corrective measures, failed to properly investigate and respond to complaints, and discouraged additional complaints from being filed. Employees were forced to continue working with the supervisors who harassed them, even after they complained. Additionally, several employees were also subjected to retaliation when they complained about the offensive conduct.
Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Case No.: 2:22-cv-05992) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC’s suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for a class of employees, as well as...
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