The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued the owner of some 20 Subway franchises in Utah, saying the company didn’t do enough when a manager sexually assaulted a teen employee.
A federal agency is suing the owner of more than 20 Utah Subway franchises, saying the company failed to prevent a male manager of several of its sandwich shops from sexually harassing and assaulting a 16-year-old male employee.
The U.S. Equal Employement Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court for Utah against Franchise Management LLC, according to an agency news release Tuesday.
According to the release, the manager — who oversaw several of the company’s Subway locations — made sexual comments to the teen at a Provo Subway shop for months. The manager is alleged to have asked the teen for pictures in his underwear, sending the teen pictures of himself in underwear, and trying to discuss sexual preferences, sexual experiences and pornography.
In September 2020, the manager sexually assaulted the teen twice during a shift, the agency said. According to the lawsuit, the manager later pleaded guilty to a count of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
According to the lawsuit, the teen was scared that if he reported the sexual assault, he could face retribution or lose his job.
The lawsuit accuses Franchise Management of not giving employees clear information on how to report instances of sexual assault at work. And though the company fired the manager, it never investigated whether sexual harassment was happening at its other restaurant locations, the lawsuit said.
The manager’s harassment and assault violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the agency said.
“Sexual assault at work is unacceptable and always violates Title VII, regardless of whether the harasser or victim is male or female,” Andrea Lucas, the acting chair of the commission, said in the news release.
Melinda Caraballo, the commission’s Phoenix district director, said in the release that fast-food businesses need to have systems in place to ensure teens aren’t sexually harassed by their older managers, especially given how often those businesses employ young people.
People concerned about harassment at work can find more information on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s website, at eeoc.gov/youth/harassment.
This is a developing story.
Source: Utah News