A Virginia waiter has reason to celebrate this week. A court awarded him a $20,000 payout after he filed a lawsuit claiming fellow employees harassed him while working at the El Tio Tex-Mex Grill.
The waiter, who has remained anonymous throughout the lawsuit, will split a $40,000 payout with another straight employee who also reported harassment for associating with him. The two plaintiffs both reported fellow employees taunting them with homophobic slurs and comments about their sexual orientation.
Related: Waiter shares wincingly homophobic slur on receipt; restaurant fires waiter. Whuh?
As part of the settlement, the restaurant will be further banned from engaging in harassment over sexual orientation. At present, Virginia law only prohibits anti-LGBTQ discrimination in government jobs.
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Attorneys for the plaintiffs also praised the verdict. “The EEOC is committed to ensuring that no employee or applicant is discriminated against or harassed based on sexual orientation,” EEOC Regional Attorney Debra M. Lawrence said in a statement. “We are gratified that El Tio worked with the EEOC to reach an amicable resolution of this lawsuit. The consent decree includes significant equitable relief that will benefit all company employees.”
rustyiam
Massive???
Rex Huskey
maybe he/they didn’t have a pot to piss in before…. 20K$ each could be quite the massive windfall
MacAdvisor
Yeah, my thought, too. Massive is would be private yacht level payout with house in a great neighborhood. This settlement is a down payment on a condo in a starter community. It isn’t even enough for the cheapest Tesla.
RyanCampbell1246
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glennmcbride
With a “massive” payout like that they should really be able to live it up for a few days.
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JorgeTurner1659
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Oranos
My reaction exactly. “Massive??”
Vince
I wonder how much the lawyers are going to get from that massive payout.
Brian
Probably the standard 1/3. I can’t imagine restaurant workers would have been able to do this any other way than contingency.
Tishthedish1
Yeah really! Massive??? Ok so to them that may be a lot. To El Tio they probably make that in 1 week. For the harassment they went through they deserved a lot lot more!!!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Am guessing David considers a guy hung 4? is “massive” also Considering his attorney will most likely get one third of the settlement…….
Nonetheless it’s still a massive victory in that they received a favorable judgement based on vile homophobia
James
GET READY, MORON TRUMP HAS THREE CASES BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT TO ALLOW ANY BUSINESS TO FIRE GAY PEOPLE. IF THEY PASS YOU CAN BE FIRED FOR BEING GAY.
Celtic
And here I thought Virginia was “for lovers”. So long as one is straight, white and evangelical.
Bob LaBlah
Folks this incident occurred in Gainesville, Va. Its a symbolic victory and its seems reasonable to assume that both sides agreed that amount was reasonable since El Tio isn’t exactly what one would call a large chain but a local restaurant more or less with five locations. Taking into consideration this is Virginia I’m surprised they got a monetary settlement at all. The amount clearly says Virginia. Sadly considering that rents in that average $1800 for a one bedroom that settlement does not come to a years rent for either one of them nor a new car. Were they smart and single with nothing really tying them to the area they would use it to pack up and move to a cheaper area of the country.