Manager would ‘reward or punish’ workers based on responses to sexual advances, feds say
A restaurant manager would “reward or punish” young female waitresses based on how they responded to his sexual advances in southern California, according to a federal lawsuit.
The general manager at Swami’s Café in Encinitas gave expensive gifts — including bicycles, surfboards, alcohol, illegal drugs and cash — to those who officials say were “coerced to put up with” his advances, the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says.
Meanwhile, female employees who refused him were fired, faced physical violence and were “unfairly and incorrectly reprimanded” by him, sometimes in front of customers, an amended complaint filed in November says.
The EEOC sued Swami’s restaurants and Honey’s Bistro in May over a widespread “pattern of hiring teenage girls as young as 16 years old based on their appearance and vulnerability” and “using manipulative tactics to subject them to a highly sexualized, hostile work environment,” McClatchy News previously reported.
The employees not only endured harassment from the Swami’s Café manager, according to the agency, but male employees and customers of the restaurant chain are also accused of touching and subjecting them to unwelcome sexual misconduct.
The EEOC is encouraging victims — or anyone who witnessed sexual harassment at the restaurants — to “come forward” as the lawsuit continues, the EEOC announced in a Jan. 29 news release.
McClatchy News contacted attorneys representing the restaurants for comment Jan. 30 and didn’t receive immediate responses. McClatchy News also contacted Swami’s Café asking whether the manager named in the lawsuit still works there.
“Though it can be difficult to come forward, this case is very important for the public good, involving sexual harassment and retaliation against many people in various locations,” EEOC regional attorney Anna Park said in the news release.
The lawsuit against one of the defendants, Swami’s Downtown LLC in San Diego, has been resolved after it agreed to “expansive injunctive remedies,” the EEOC said. The agency’s lawsuit proceeds against all other defendants.
The Swami’s chain has 10 restaurants with locations in Carlsbad, Encinitas, San Diego, Escondido, La Mesa, Oceanside and Vista.
Harassment, violence and threats
The Swami’s Café manager is accused of trying to have sexual relationships with female employees, making sexual comments to them and touching “their waists, lower backs or shoulders” at work, according to the complaint.
He also is accused of inviting employees, including those underage, to sleepovers, inviting them to live with him and showing them porn on his phone at work, the complaint says.
The workers “are deterred from standing up to (him) because of his volatile reactions,” according to the complaint.
This manager “has resorted to physical violence when he is displeased with female employees,” the complaint says.
He’s accused of throwing heavy rolls of receipts and cardboard boxes at one employee after he became angry at her, according to the complaint.
When the EEOC started investigating the restaurants, the Swami’s Café manager texted female employees and threatened that they would be “in trouble” if they cooperated with the agency, according to the complaint.
He’s continued to try to intimidate female employees to discourage them from participating in the lawsuit, the complaint says.
Before and after the EEOC filed the litigation, the manager also harassed EEOC employees, according to the complaint.
As for other male restaurant employees, they’re accused of “routinely” touching young female workers, asking them on dates and to “engage in sexual activities,” the EEOC said.
Park said anyone who “experienced or witnessed harassment” at Swami’s or Honey’s Bistro in Encinitas “from 2019 to the present” is asked to call the EEOC at 213-785-3095, option 4, or email the agency at SwamisLitigation@eeoc.gov.
This story was originally published January 30, 2024 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Manager would ‘reward or punish’ workers based on responses to sexual advances, feds say."
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