Employers Are Required To Stop Sexual Harassment that They Witness

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission settled a sexual harassment lawsuit that it had filed against Applebee’s Grill and Bar.  The EEOC’s lawsuit alleged that the company had subjected two of its female employees, who were sisters, to a sexually hostile work environment.  The lawsuit claimed that one of the sisters started working for Applebee’s around 2013 and that her sister started work at the same location around June 2014.  The lawsuit alleged that one of Applebee’s managers sexually harassed one sister from about January 2014 until about October 2014 and the other sister from about June 2014 until about October 2014.  The Complaint alleged that the harassment included physical groping, sexual comments, and that other members of the management witnessed the harassment and were aware that the sisters had reported the harassment, but the company did not stop the inappropriate conduct.  Such alleged actions are a violation of  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  See EEOC v. New Apple, Inc., No. 4:17-cv-01150 (D.S.C.).