Gomez never told his underage female employees that the restaurant had a procedure for reporting sexual harassment.
He never had the opportunity because, according to court records, he was too busy sexually harassing them.
The complaint against him accused him of grabbing the teenagers' breasts and bottoms, trying to unfasten bras, dropping ice down their shirts, humping them from behind, asking them to go into the walk-in freezer and perform oral sex on him and that was just for starters.
Gomez asked the teenage girls if they wanted to hold his sex organ, the court document says and he referred to the girls as "stupid bitches" and "drunken whores."
The girls complained to assistant managers and crew leaders, but no action was taken.
Even after an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigator checked out the situation, Gomez' behavior continued. He retaliated against those who complained and some quit rather then endure the harassment.
On June 15, 2011, the EEOC announced that the Sonic Drive-In of Los Lunas, New Mexico, would pay 70 workers, many of them the teenagers Gomez had been harassed, others older female workers who had suffered the same treatment $2 million, the largest settlement ever recorded by the Albuquerque EEOC office.
Though an overwhelming majority of Sonic franchises in the United States have never been sued for sexual harassment, Sonic franchises have been sued more often than all fast food franchises, with the exception of CKE, owner of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.
What is equally concerning is that many of the younger workers are being introduced to the work world for the first time and often do not what kind of behavior they have to tolerate from their managers and supervisors.
The most recent such lawsuit against Sonic was filed earlier this month in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri where a Joplin teenager claimed a pattern of sexual harassment at the Rangeline Sonic, 1101 S. Rangeline, which she says led to a sexual attack by a supervisor.
The supervisor, Chris Alred, 31, Springfield, faces a felony statutory sodomy charge in Jasper County Circuit Court in connection with the incident.
Alred, as noted in earlier Turner Report posts, was hired for a position where his duties included supervision of underage car hops despite a recent prison stay resulting from his fourth and fifth guilty pleas for driving while intoxicated. His background record also included two earlier drug convictions.
Since that time, Alred has been charged with DWI for a sixth time.
Court records are filled with sexual harassment lawsuits against Sonic supervisors, nearly all of which ended with hefty settlements for the plaintiffs.
-In Grapevine, Texas, Sonic settled for $31,000 on April 8, 2010, after a 17-year-old carhop was harassed by a manager who took advantage of her bending over to put on her skates by grabbing her head and pushing it down to simulate oral sex. The girl's mother complained to Sonic officials, but no action was taken against the manager.
The Turner Report examined a dozen lawsuits of recent vintage against Sonic, all of which were settled, but the amounts were kept confidential.
A couple of the more recent cases are described below:
-Sonic reached an agreement to pay 16-year-old carhop S. E. for harassment that took place after she was hired by the Tracy, California, franchise in 2015. Court documents indicate S. E.'s manager was grabbing her hips, thighs, and hands and continued badgering her for dates, though she made it clear she was not interested. The manager was also harassing other female employees. S. E. reported the harassment to another supervisor and was fired for taking a selfie of herself at work, a violation of company policy.
-Sexual harassment began for Kaylee Thompson at the Piedmont, Oklahoma Sonic after a new supervisor arrived in February 2015. attempting to lure her to a secluded area to have sex. When she complained, her hours were cut, she was moved to a lower paying job, and one month later she was fired. Sonic settled with Thompson for an undisclosed amount.
In the current Joplin case, a mediation session for the teenage plaintiff in the Sonic Rangeline lawsuit is scheduled for October 23. All actions in the lawsuit have been stayed until after the mediation.
Previous posts
Explosive lawsuit claim: Pervasive sexual harassment at Rangeline Sonic led to assaults on two teenage girls
Sonic supervisor named in sexual harassment suit cited for sixth DWI
Mediation session scheduled for Rangeline Sonic sexual harassment suit
ReplyDeletehttps://www.inc.com/magazine/19980701/962.html
Equal parts old-fashioned dictator and New Age father figure, Jack Hartnett breaks nearly every rule of the enlightened manager's code. What's most surprising is how well Hartnett makes it work
ReplyDeleteThe phone rang loudly, rousing Jack Hartnett from a deep sleep. He glanced at the clock; it was 1:30 a.m. As he picked up the receiver, the thought of his daughters started his heart racing. "Who is it?" his wife, Vicki, demanded. A distraught woman's voice came on the line. "Jack," began the caller, "can you help me with my sex life?"
Recognizing the voice, Hartnett calmed himself. The woman said her husband was impotent and she didn't know what to do. By now Hartnett knew what to say to reassure her; it was hardly the first time he'd received such a call. Another woman, Sharon, had called him to complain that she hardly saw Andy, her spouse, anymore. Andy worked 80 hours a week managing a fast-food drive-in restaurant. Sharon told Hartnett that Andy had brushed aside her concerns when she had pleaded with him to work less.
What Hartnett did to help such people was hardly extraordinary. It was nothing more, actually, than what any good friend might do. Except that Hartnett wasn't a good friend or even--by most definitions--a friend at all. He was their boss.
Hartnett, 46, is president of D.L. Rogers Corp.,
https://www.inc.com/magazine/19980701/962.html
Well calm yourself my friend, Jack Hartnett died today and he was in fact a great man and a great soul. In respect for his death, I ask that you update this very personal experience as it is less than what a family would like to see while he rests in peace.
ReplyDeleteI have personally worked with this kind and giving man and am very disturbed by your representation of him. Perhaps your husband should think so too?