labor lawAdivision of labor law center

A popular chain of Cajun restaurants based in Dallas agreed to pay $1 million and implement anti-discrimination policies after the EEOC charged in a class-action suit that the company was committing illegal discrimination against men.

 

In the suit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged that Razzoo’s refused to hire male bartenders, or to promote male employees to that position.

 

The EEOC filed suit against Razzoo’s, the parent company and operator of 11 Cajun restaurants throughout the Dallas metro area, plus locations in Houston and Concord, North Carolina. The company’s Dallas-area locations include Razzoo’s Cajun Cafés in Arlington, Bedford, Irving, Lewisville, Mesquite, and Plano. The company has one location in Stafford, Texas near Houston,  two locations in Ft. Worth and one in Dallas.

 

The company is not affiliated in any way with Razzoo’s Bar in New Orleans.

 

Evidence that Razzoo’s established a company policy that 80% of bartenders would be female was particularly troublesome for the company. The EEOC uncovered this policy after reading emails set to restaurant managers from the top management.

 

On the company’s website, a “staff” group photo is roughly 80% female, with the only two males hidden in the back row.

 

The EEOC lined up a number of male employees and applicants to testify at the trial. The men were expected to swear under oath that Razzoo’s managers told them the company wanted “girls” behind the bar. Male restaurant servers were told they could not be promoted to bartender, due to their sex.

 

The few male bartenders employed by Razzoo’s were not allowed to work the highly lucrative “girls-only” events. This resulted in the male employee’s earning less than their female counterparts.

 

The EEOC reports that complaints of discrimination towards men are on the rise, while other types of discrimination remain at constant levels.

 

“Some may think that sex sells drinks, but gender ratios are illegal,” said Suzanne M. Anderson, EEOC supervisory trial attorney and lead counsel on the lawsuit.”Razzoo’s decision to hire and promote by gender is a clear violation of federal law. A hiring ratio is illegal whether it is 80/20 whites to blacks or 80/20 women to men.” The suit is officially known as EEOC v. Razzoo’s, Civil Action No. 3:05-CV-0562-P, filed in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.

 

Under the out-of-court settlement, Razzoo’s maintains that it did nothing wrong. However, the restaurant company agreed to pay $775,000 to be divided among applicants, servers and bartenders – all of them male.

 

In addition, the EEOC forced Razzoo’s to agree to retain the services of a Human Resources consultant or to create an in-house Human Resources department. The decree requires that Razzoo’s spend at least $225,000 on those services.

 

Also under the decree, Razzoo’s agreed to implement equal employment opportunity training for all employees, to post an anti-discrimination notice and to submit to EEOC monitoring of discrimination complaints.

 

 “We are pleased by the breadth of this settlement, which will provide significant monetary relief to the class of male applicants and employees, as well as strong injunctive relief to help Razzoo’s develop workplace policies in compliance with the Civil Rights Act,” said Regional Attorney Robert A. Canino of the EEOC’s Dallas District Office. “Everyone deserves the freedom to compete and advance in the workplace without regard to artificial barriers.”

 

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

 

As nearly every HR director knows, discrimination based on sex or gender is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law was originally passed to protect women from discrimination in the workplace, but it provides equal protection for men.

 

Currently there is no federal law that prohibits discrimination against gay and lesbian workers, although a number of states have such laws. That may change later this year, if ENDA is passed by the Senate. 

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