TERRE HAUTE RALLY’S HAMBURGER RESTAURANT SUED BY EEOC FOR SEXUAL HARASSMENT

PRESS RELEASE
9-28-09

Fast Food Eatery Subjected Teenaged Female Employees to Severe Harassment, Federal Agency Charges

INDIANAPOLIS – A Terre Haute, Ind., fast food restaurant violated federal law when it subjected its female employees to a sexually hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit it filed today.

According to the EEOC’s suit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Sidal, Inc. d/b/a Rally’s Hamburgers, Civil Action No. 2:09-cv-314), filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, management at the Rally’s restaurant at 3492 S. Highway 41 in Terre Haute subjected female employees to unwelcome sexual comments, sexual advances, sexual groping, and sexual assault.

The EEOC is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the victims, as well as an injunction preventing Jasper, Ind.-based Sidal, Inc., the owner of the Rally’s location at issue, from engaging in sex discrimination and requiring it to take other measures to ensure a workplace free of discrimination for current and future employees.

“Many of the victims in this case were teenagers working at their first jobs,” said Laurie A. Young, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Indianapolis District Office. “These young ladies should not have had to tolerate unwanted sexual advances – much less the sexual assault alleged to have occurred here.”

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.

This page was last modified on September 28, 2009.