The following is taken from documents filed with the EEOC against Buffalo Wild Wings in Illinois. “Bill” (name changed to protect the victim), was subjected to frequent, sexually offensive comments by the General Manager of a Buffalo Wild Wings franchise in Marion, Illinois, where he worked. The GM aggressively taunted him, commenting about Bill’s sexual preferences, asking for his phone number so Bill could experience being with another man, and making statements about what “type of gay” the GM thought Bill was. Sometimes the GM would stand directly behind Bill at close proximity, causing Bill to feel physically unsafe and triggered. At the time Bill began his employment at Buffalo Wild Wings, he was a sexual assault survivor who was recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the constant sexualized taunting by the GM sent Bill into an emotional tailspin. The documents filed with the EEOC suggest that Buffalo Wild Wings could have and should have prevented this.
Bill was told by multiple coworkers that the GM had already been transferred from two other Buffalo Wild Wings locations due to complaints of sexual harassment. Soon after the GM was transferred to Marion, a Line Cook reported another cook for sexual harassment. The GM took the Line Cook into the office and told her that because it was a restaurant, sexual harassment was to be expected. That sent a clear message that sexual harassment was to be tolerated.
Around the time of the Line Cook’s complaint, another coworker sent the Director of Operations, Jon Bruenig, this email:
Hello Jon,
Yes, I had some sexual harassment concerns at Marion Buffalo Wild Wings. I’ll send you what I had sent Ryan [a Buffalo Wild Wings Franchise Consultant].
I work at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Marion, Illinois and there has been some sexual harassment going on. I would bring it to my general manager (Chris McBride), but he is one of the people with accusations against him. . . . a few people have talked to me about it. I told them I was going to reach out to you . . . .
After complaints were escalated to the Director of Operations, multiple employees, including Bill, experienced continued sexual harassment by the same GM, leading one employee to submit her resignation. This employee declared under penalty of perjury that she in fact reported multiple instances of harassment to Bruenig. As she stated in her sworn statement, filed with the EEOC:
Multiple servers informed me that they attempted to contact [the Director of Operations] in order to report the harassment, but received no answer from him. . . .Upon my resignation, I informed a fellow manager that my resignation was due to [the GM’s] inappropriate behavior and the company’s inability and/or unwillingness to stop it.
She described the sexually offensive comments the GM made to employees daily, including discussing female employees in the restaurant based on their sexual attractiveness, his own and others’ “manhood”; questioning the sexual morals of a female bartender; drawing an analogy between masturbation and shaking a bucket. He made an inappropriate gesture to an 18 year-old employee concerning activities with her boyfriend. The GM made countless other sexually harassing comments to subordinates. For example, he pulled up a photo on his phone of one of the bartenders who had posted pregnancy pictures on Facebook and made comments about her breasts, including “you can pump some into my coffee, too.”
Despite allegations of multiple complaints of sexual harassment against the GM, Bill was told that Buffalo Wild Wings simply transferred the GM to different franchise locations, doing nothing to address the allegations. This led to continued harassment of Buffalo Wild Wings employees by the GM, including “Bill,” a sexual assault survivor who then suffered flashbacks and panic attacks, becoming completely disabled by the harassment.
If you know about harassment or discrimination at Buffalo Wild Wings please call us at 212-308-4338, email attorney@employmentlawfirmpc.com or fill out a form on our website.