• 09
  • December
    2011

We recently wrote about the harassment claims made against presidential candidate Herman Cain that arose when he was the chief executive of the National Restaurant Association. The allegations that the association settled twice with women who made claims against him have turned new attention towards the entire restaurant industry.

The restaurant industry has not had the most stellar record in the past when it comes to providing a sexual harassment free workplace for employees. Although a lot has changed in the past few decades, it appears as though harassment in the industry is not one of them.

Researchers compiled information from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and state and local Fair Employment Practices agencies to study harassment. What they found was that although the total number of sexual harassment claims has recently experienced a decline, the industry is still a leader -- and not in a good way.

In this year alone there have been 75 sexual harassment claims filed with the federal government. Of those claims 37 percent of them were related to the foodservice industry.

What is especially concerning is that not only does harassment remain a problem, but the claims are becoming even more serious. Historically, many of the claims have been based on verbal comments. Now, legal experts are commenting that they are seeing more of a combination of physical and verbal acts that contribute to the problem.

A lot of instances of harassment involve a specific sexual interest between the tormentor and the victim, but that is not always the case. For experts it seems as though inappropriate touching and horseplay that have a sexual nature are becoming even more commonplace in many restaurants.

Watch for our next posting on the subject to learn about another frightening and yet surprising fact about harassment in the restaurant industry.

Source: Nation's Restaurant News, "Looking at sexual harassment in the restaurant industry," Ron Ruggless, Dec. 5, 2011