According to a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week, at least two teenage female employees at a Dunkin Donuts in Wynantskill, New York have alleged their supervisor sexually harassed them.
According to the lawsuit, one employee was 16 and the other 17 in 2006 when their supervisor started touching their breasts and buttocks, kissing and hugging them, and telling them that they were “hot” and that he preferred virgins. The EEOC has estimated that the conduct affected between five and 15 other employees.
According to the EEOC, the employees complained more than once to the company but were ignored. One of the girls contacted the EEOC in 2007.
The EEOC is seeking not only back pay and pain and suffering but punitive damages as well. The assigned EEOC trial attorney warned, “The EEOC takes allegations of sexual harassment very seriously, especially when the employees being harassed are teens. For many of these employees, this is their first job and they don’t know how to complain, especially when the harasser is their manager.”
Young employees are particularly at risk for being sexually harassed. I don’t know what Dunkin Donuts was thinking if they ignored the complaints. If this goes to trial, a jury is not going to like hearing these allegations. If the jury finds for plaintiffs, bet you dollars to donuts it’s going to be a substantial verdict.
Here’s the article from The Troy Record.
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