The cook was allegedly too good to lose — the women who reported him were not
A new lawsuit alleges Panda Express repeatedly transferred a cook accused of sexual harassment — then fired the women who reported him.
The case, filed on March 19 in federal court in Chicago (Contreras v. Panda Express Inc., No. 1:26-cv-03109), raises a scenario that will be uncomfortably familiar to HR leaders: a worker accused of persistent misconduct who was shuffled between locations rather than disciplined — allegedly because he was too valuable to let go.
Esmeralda Contreras worked as a customer service representative at a Panda Express in Cook County, Illinois, from September 2023 until her termination in May 2025. According to the lawsuit, a cook identified as Silverio began harassing her in or around January 2024, making explicit sexual remarks, offering her money for sex and marriage, and telling her he had married a 13-year-old when he was 23.
Contreras says she raised the issue with management four to five times over roughly seven months — flagging the behavior to an assistant manager, a general manager, and a higher-level area operations leader. One manager assured her an investigation would be launched. To Contreras's knowledge, according to the lawsuit, none ever was.
Silverio was eventually moved to another location in or around mid-April 2025, but only after he allegedly pulled another female employee close to him without her consent. The lawsuit states this was reportedly his...
/Uncategorized Carmichaels Area school officials are pushing back on a misleading campaign attack mailer sent out by the Republican Party of Pennsylvania incorrectly claiming the district impos...