One restaurant employee is getting paid for homophobic treatment placed upon him.
According to NBC Washington, a gay restaurant server is receiving thousands of dollars through a lawsuit settlement after dealing with homophobic taunting at his past job. The man says he was harassed by fellow employees at El Tio Tex-Mex Grill in Gainseville. They bothered him with homophobic epithets and taunted him about his sexuality.
Eventually, this led to a September 2018 lawsuit. The filed suit also explains that the server’s straight friend, a busser at the same restaurant, was also harassed and bullied due to their friendship.
After several months of proceedings, a settlement was finally settled between the servers, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Mejia Corp., which owns the restaurant. Part of this ruling is due to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination because of sex, including harassment.
The settlement, which came as a three-year consent decree, calls for the server and his friend to split a $40,000 payment from Mejia Corp. The restaurant is also being barred from condoning harassment based on sexual orientation among its employees.
“The EEOC is committed to ensuring that no employee or applicant is discriminated against or harassed based on sexual orientation,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence. “We are gratified that El Tio worked with the EEOC to reach an amicable resolution of this lawsuit. The consent decree includes significant equitable relief that will benefit all company employees.”
Mindy Weinstein, acting director of the Washington Field Office, added, “We commend these employees who bravely stood up for what is right and changed this workplace for the better as a result.”
Sources: NBC Washington, Associated Press, National Review,
