Chipotle worker endured ‘daily’ sexual harassment that went ignored, lawsuit says
A Chipotle restaurant did little to stop a manager’s “daily” sexual harassment against a female employee in Alabama, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The suit, filed Tuesday, May 31, accuses the California-based burrito chain of violating federal law by ignoring complaints about the hostile work environment created by the ongoing harassment, the commission wrote in a news release.
The woman worked at a location in Prattville where she endured “unwanted sexual advances, sexual comments and sexually offensive conduct, including sexual contact” by a male manager, according to the lawsuit. The alleged harassment began as early as October 2019 but was reportedly never investigated.
The EEOC’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the worker and marks the fourth sexual harassment complaint filed against a Chipotle facility within the last five years, the commission said.
“It is high time that Chipotle begin taking proactive measures to address this ongoing and pervasive sexual harassment at its facilities,” Bradley Anderson, district director for EEOC Birmingham, said in a statement. “All employees deserve a workplace that is free of sex-based harassment and discrimination.”
“Sexual harassment by managers is especially alarming because of their authority over subordinates,” Anderson added.
McClatchy News reached out to Chipotle for comment Wednesday, June 1, and was awaiting a response.
The manager harassed other women at work and was the “immediate supervisor” to the female employee, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by McClatchy News. During her first week at the restaurant, he is accused of asking “if he could be her ‘boo’“ and offering to let her sit on his lap.
The harassment only escalated from there and included propositioning the employee to come home with him, purposely poking and pinching her throughout her shift and rubbing “his open palm against her buttocks when moving through her area at the cash register,” court documents show.
The worker eventually quit after confronting the manager on Nov. 29, 2019.
The EEOC attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement with Chipotle before filing the lawsuit this week. In addition to monetary damages, the commission seeks a jury trial and injunctive relief to prevent this from happening in the future.
“Employees and managers would be well advised to know that federal law requires employers to protect their workers from a sexually hostile work environment and that the EEOC will hold them when they fail to do so,” Marsha Rucker, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Birmingham District, said in a statement.
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Chipotle worker endured ‘daily’ sexual harassment that went ignored, lawsuit says."