Natlawreview.com -  SPOA, LLC and Marathos, LLC, which run the Italian restaurants Basta Pasta in Fallston and Lutherville-Timonium, Md., will pay $200,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The EEOC charged that Basta Pasta's owner repeatedly subjected female employees, including at least one in her teens, to rampant sexual harassment, including rubbing his genitalia against the buttocks of some of them, engaging in other unwelcome touching, and frequently making sexually suggestive remarks and crude sexual innuendos.  The owner gave alcohol to one female employee, identified by the pseudonym "Mary Smith" in the lawsuit, causing her to pass out and later wake up vomiting.   Smith believed the owner drugged her in an attempt to sexually assault her, according to the lawsuit.  The EEOC further charged that the owner invited another female employee, identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe, to his house, ostensibly to talk about a management opportunity, but Doe believed the owner instead drugged and sexually assaulted her. Continue