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Closed restaurant to pay $350k to settle EEOC sexual harassment charges

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Closed restaurant to pay $350k to settle EEOC sexual harassment charges

A now-closed Honolulu restaurant will pay $350,000 to settle charges that several male employees, including managers, sexually harassed or retaliated against 13 female employees over a five-year period.

In a lawsuit filed in 2011 and later amended, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accused managers at La Rana Hawaii L.L.C., which did business as Señor Frog's, of subjecting female employees to sexual comments, language, advances and “unwelcome physical contact” from 2007 through 2012

The agency also alleged that some employees were subjected to retaliation after complaining about the alleged harassment.

In addition, the EEOC alleged that the women were treated less favorably than men in the workplace, passed over for promotions, assigned less favorable shifts and earned less than their male counterparts.

The restaurant closed in August 2012, the EEOC said Thursday.

In addition to the $350,000 settlement, the EEOC said a $150,000 settlement was reached previously with another defendant in the case, Honolulu-based Altres Inc., a staffing company with which La Rana Hawaii had contracted to provide human resources services and oversee the company's nonmanagement staff during the time in question.

“Our young workers are all too often the targets of the most insidious forms of sexual harassment, which can spread like wildfire at work,” Anna Y. Park, regional attorney for the EEOC's Los Angeles district office, said in a statement. “Employers who fail to fulfill their moral and legal obligation to prevent and immediately stop the sexual abuse of its young workers will answer to the EEOC.”

Attorneys for La Rana Hawaii and Altres could not immediately be reached for comment.