Dee's restaurants face sexual harassment suit

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday it has filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against Dee's Family Restaurants, alleging that five young female employees were sexually harassed by a male co-worker and that one of the girls was fired when she complained.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Utah, alleges that the female employees — who ranged in age from 17 to their early 20s at the time of the alleged events — were harassed by a male co-worker.

Complaints about the alleged harassment began surfacing in May 2003, according to Mary Jo O'Neill, regional attorney with the EEOC.

In a statement released Tuesday, the commission said the women reported "unwanted touching, hugging, rubbing up against the female employees, and groping." Further, the lawsuit claims that Dee's "took no action to address or correct the situation," and that one woman was "fired in retaliation for complaining about the sexual harassment," according to the EEOC statement.

When contacted Tuesday, representatives of Dee's Inc. said they had not seen the lawsuit and were unable to comment.

The commission is seeking back wages, compensatory damages and punitive damages; a punitive injunction; and a court order compelling Dee's to "institute and carry out policies and practices which eradicate sexual harassment, and prevent sexual harassment and retaliation from occurring in the future."

"Federal law protects workers, including teens, against sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination," O'Neill said. "Employers who provide after-school or weekend job opportunities for young workers have a responsibility to abide by the law and provide a work environment free of harassment.

"Young workers need to know they do not have to put up with any type of discrimination — period — in order to retain gainful employment."

Dee's opened its first Salt Lake restaurant in 1931. The company later became Dee's Family Restaurants.

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