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BY BILL DOLAN
Times Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 14, 2004 | (No comments posted.)
HAMMOND -- A Griffith fast-food outlet will pay seven former female employees $90,000 to settle claims they were sexually harassed.
Pepe's Mexican Restaurant, 222 E. Ridge Road, also must adopt an anti-harassment policy, train all employees including managers and supervisors about the policy and submit reports for the next five years to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Indianapolis to ensure the restaurant respects its employees' civil rights.
Kenneth L. Bird, an attorney for the commission, said Tuesday the consent decree Pepe's signed is a fair settlement of the sex harassment case and a warning to other businesses of how serious the commission is about eradicating workplace harassment.
Adolph Flores Jr., a partial owner of the business, declined comment Tuesday on the settlement when reached by telephone at the restaurant.
Merrillville lawyer Ned Ruff, who represents Flores, also declined comment. Attorneys Richard Long and Kurt Meihofer, who also represent Flores, couldn't be reached Tuesday for comment.
The commission filed suit two years ago against SAC Griffith Inc., which operated Pepe's, on behalf of women who claimed harassment so severe they had to quit.
The commission alleged in a court document last fall the women filed complaints against Flores beginning in the summer of 2000 and continuing into the summer of 2002.
Bird said Flores was never named as a defendant in the lawsuit so any allegations against him are not part of the five-year consent decree U.S. District Court Magistrate Paul Cherry approved last week.
Flores does face charges in Lake Criminal Court of sexual battery, confinement, deviate conduct and attempted deviate conduct on allegations of sexual misconduct in relation to female employees. He is pleading innocent and is free on bond pending trial, now scheduled to begin the week of June 7.
Bill Dolan can be reached at bdolan@nwitimes.com or (219) 662-5328.
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