Ralphie’s Sports Eatery to Pay $125,000 in EEOC Race, Disability and Retaliation Discrimination Suit

CLEVELAND – Bennett Enterprises Inc., doing business as Ralphie’s Sports Eatery Company, will pay $125,000 and provide other relief to settle a race, disability and retaliation discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a biracial woman with a diagnosis of depression and anxiety worked for Bennett Enterprises as a server at its Ralphie’s Sports Eatery location in Kenton, Ohio. The former server was subjected to a hostile work environment because of her race, which included her direct supervisor using racial slurs and other derogatory terms. After the restaurant learned of the server’s disability, she was denied a promotion, suspended and then fired. The server filed a discrimination charge with the EEOC alleging race and disability discrimination. Thereafter, Bennett Enterprises refused to hire her at a different Ralphie’s location, telling her that it could not offer her the position because she has an active EEOC claim.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race discrimination and retaliation. The alleged conduct also violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits disability discrimination and retaliation and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities unless it would cause undue hardship. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Bennett Enterprises, Inc. d/b/a Ralphie’s Sports Eatery, Case No. 1:23-cv-01758) in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

The two-year consent decree settling the suit requires Bennett Enterprises to pay $125,000 in back pay and compensatory damages, and to provide periodic reporting, monitoring, and live training for management, human resources and non-supervisory employees to ensure compliance with Title VII and the ADA.

“Employers cannot violate multiple anti-discrimination statutes and then retaliate against employees for enforcing their rights under those laws,” said Philadelphia District Office Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence. “The EEOC is committed to preventing and remedying race and disability harassment, discrimination and retaliation.”

For more information on harassment, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/harassment. More information on race and disability discrimination is available at https://www.eeoc.gov/racecolor-discrimination and https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc-disability-related-resources.

The EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office has jurisdiction over Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and parts of New Jersey and Ohio. EEOC attorneys in the Philadelphia District also litigate violations of employment laws the agency enforces in Washington, D.C. and parts of Virginia.

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 is responsible for investigating charges against state and local government employers before referring them to DOJ for potential litigation. 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. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.