A Mother and Daughter have filed Charges with the Virginia Attorney General’s office and the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), alleging that they were both sexually harassed while working at the Virginia Diner by the Kitchen Manager. The Daughter was only 17, below the age of consent in Virginia, when she was physically sexually harassed. The Virginia Diner is owned by the The Virginia Food Group whose CEO is Andrew Whisler.
The following is taken from the filed Charges which quote sworn statements.
The Kitchen Manager said to the daughter, repeatedly, are you still a virgin, whoever comes between your legs is lucky, we need to get you a real man who can satisfy you and provide for you like a real man can. He put his hand on her back and rubbed it down to her behind. He said “Let me get between your legs” when bending down to get something while she stood at the register. Returning a few minutes later saying “did you get what I said earlier”? and when she said no, repeating his comment. Another time he pulled her hair holding on to it, while he walked away. Mother and Daughter witnessed the Kitchen Manager asking female hosts and servers about their “sex lives,” grabbing their hair and rubbing their backs, touching their behinds, and asking things like “did you get laid tonight?” and “did [your boyfriend] give it to you last night?”
He would often walk up behind the Mother, blow on her neck, snatch her toward him by grabbing her shirt, and slide his hand down her back. He asked her “did [your boyfriend] give it to you last night?”; when the Mother dated a disabled individual, he asked her “does he still get it up? Can he still do that thing? And is it even any good?”; “just one time with me and you’ll never let him back!”
A Whistleblower, in a sworn statement quoted in the the EEOC Charge, states that she complained to the General Manager about the Kitchen Manager at least four times but the sexual harassment continued:
[The Kitchen Manager] made inappropriate and offensive comments about how my body looked and how I dressed, including in front of the kitchen staff. I complained to my General Manager [] about [the Kitchen Manager’s] inappropriate conduct. After my complaint, I witnessed [the Kitchen Manager] make offensive sexual comments to, and physically touch, young female servers, who were generally between ages sixteen and twenty-two. I saw this conduct from [him] on average on a daily basis. . . [He] would talk to them about their breasts, ask them if they are having sex, what sex positions did they like, ask if their boyfriends were satisfying them, and touch them on their backs down to their behinds. . . I heard [him] ask a 17-year-old boy who worked in the kitchen whether he liked porn, and did he ever get it up the butt and like it. . .
One young female server told me that [he] had touched her all over her body. She quit the next day. . . I complained about [his] offensive sexual behavior toward young employees to the General Manager [] on at least four to five occasions. . . For example, on one occasion I told [the GM] that [the Kitchen Manager] had touched a young female cashier on her back and called her sweetheart, that she had said she felt very uncomfortable by it, and that she quit right afterward.
[The GM] just responded, well, she isn’t here anymore. On another occasion, a young male employee came to me and told me [the Kitchen Manager] had asked him had he ever been f***** up the butt. I went to [the GM] and told him about the complaint. . . I made multiple additional complaints to [the GM].
Each time I complained, [he] would tell me he knows it’s not the first time. I saw [the Kitchen Manager] continue to engage in the exact same sexually harassing behavior after each of my complaints.
The complaints to the GM had not stopped the sexual harassment. The Whistleblow and another Manager convinced two frightened young victims to send anonymous emails to Andrew Whisler, then the President of the Virginia Diner, telling him what they were experiencing. Shortly afterwards, in March 2023, the Whistleblower was fired. The sexual harassment continued.
A second witness has testified under oath in a declaration filed with the EEOC that the Kitchen Manager made lewd remarks to young female servers on average every shift worked (3-5/week), concerning what they did with their sexual partners, and touched female employees on their shoulders, sides, and down their backs, even though they were obviously uncomfortable with his touching.
The Kitchen Manager sexually propositioned the Mother in late August 2023, asking her to go out to the walk-in together, impliedly to engage in sexual activity. Claimant told him never to ask her that again.
It was after her mother stopped working at the Virginia Diner in November 2023, the Kitchen Manager began sexually harassing her Daughter, just seventeen.
Even after she was terminated the Whistleblower emailed Andrew Whisler, who was President and a partner in the Virginia Diner, to tell him what the harasser was doing to the seventeen year old girl, in an email:
On May 29, 2024, I emailed Andrew Whisler directly, telling him that [the Kitchen Manager] was continuing to sexually harass the young female servers and that he should investigate it. . . I said in my email that [he] was making sexual comments to young female employees; gave him an example of a female employee who screamed at [the Kitchen Manager] for rubbing her back; gave specific examples of offensive sexual comments [he] had made including asking a young female employee if anyone had “popped her cherry yet” and asking the young male employee if he had ever been f***** up the butt; explained that I had made multiple complaints to [the General Manager] and that he had swept it under the rug; explained that young female employees had told me they were worried about the consequences if they complained; and gave him five specific names of employees he could talk to who would confirm [the] behavior.
The Kitchen Manager continued sexually harassing the Daughter even after the Whistleblower’s email to the Whisler, including saying “let me get between your legs.”
The Kitchen Manager has not been terminated as of the date of publication.
If you know about harassment or discrimination at the Virginia Diner please call us at 212-308-4338, email attorney@employmentlawfirmpc.com or fill out a form on our website.
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