Shreveport Area Restaurants to Pay $34,000 in EEOC Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

MINDEN, La. – Minden Seafood, LLC, and Dorcheat Seafood, LLC, operators of restaurants Minden Seafood and Dorcheat Seafood and Grill, will pay a former employee $34,000 in back pay and emotional distress damages to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a male cook at Minden Seafood repeatedly sexually harassed a female cashier by making unwanted and inappropriate sexually suggestive comments to her, propositioning her, and following her into the women’s bathroom, where he exposed himself to her. She reported the cook’s behavior to a manager and requested working hours to avoid being with him. However, the manager took no steps to protect her from his sexually harassing conduct, and the female employee felt forced to resign in November 2021. She was also denied employment at Dorcheat Seafood and Grill, a sister restaurant to Minden Seafood, according to the suit.

“Federal law guarantees employees the right to be free from sexual harassment in the workplace and not be subjected to retaliation when they complain of the harassment and ask that it stop,” said Rudy Sustaita, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Houston District Office. “It is incumbent upon employers to ensure that complaints of sexual harassment are taken seriously and handled appropriately. The law is clear that nothing less will be tolerated.”

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sex discrimination and retaliation for complaining about discrimination. The EEOC filed its suit (EEOC v. Minden Seafood LLC and Dorcheat Seafood, LLC, Civil Action No. 2:24-cv-02360) in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

Under the four-year consent decree settling the suit, approved Jan. 28, the companies will compensate the former employee, and also conduct training, revise policies, provide regular reports to the EEOC, and post a notice affirming their obligations under Title VII.

Lucia Blacksher Ranier, senior trial attorney of the EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office, said, “The EEOC is committed to enforcing the law when employers allow this type of misconduct in the workplace. Employees should not be forced to tolerate sexual harassment to keep their jobs.”

More information about sexual harassment is available at https://www.eeoc.gov/sexual-harassment. More information about retaliation is available at https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation.

The EEOC’s New Orleans Field Office is part of the Houston District Office, which has jurisdiction over Louisiana and parts of Texas.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The EEOC also is responsible for coordinating the federal government’s employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov.