GLC Restaurants To Pay $550,000 For Sexual Harassment Of Teen Workers By Male Boss

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the settlement of a discrimination lawsuit against GLC Restaurants, Inc. (GLC) for $550,000 and substantial remedial relief on behalf of a class of teenage workers who were sexually harassed by a middle-aged male supervisor, including unwanted touching and lewd comments. Flagstaff based GLC is a franchisee doing business as McDonald’s Restaurants in Arizona and California.

The EEOC maintained in the suit that the male supervisor in question was a repeat offender who subjected eight young women, who were part-time crew members, to a sexually hostile workplace at the McDonald’s run by GLC in Cordes Junction, Ariz. Previously, the same male manager allegedly harassed teen female employees at a GLC-owned McDonald’s Restaurant in Camp Verde, Ariz. The EEOC said that GLC knew of this manager’s earlier conduct but failed to take appropriate action to prevent him from repeating the unlawful behavior at another of its restaurants. The EEOC also alleged that the working conditions for one teenager in Cordes Junction were so intolerable that she was forced to resign.

“This was the first job experience for many of these young women, some of whom were only 14-years old at the time,” said EEOC Trial Attorney Michelle Marshall. “No one should have to endure sexual harassment to earn a paycheck. Employers must be extra vigilant in protecting teen workers, who are one of the must vulnerable segments of the labor force.”  Read more at eeoc.gov.