Buffalo Grove restaurant accused of allowing harassment

A Buffalo Grove restaurant is facing a sexual harassment lawsuit after former employees charged that a cook made sexual comments and touched them inappropriately.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit Thursday against the Buffalo Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor.

A man who identified himself as the owner of the restaurant Thursday said he had not heard of the lawsuit yet and did not wish to comment until he had seen it.

In the lawsuit, the EEOC said a male employee, who the commission said was fired in 2004, referred to female employees in crude sexual terms.

The lawsuit said the female employees complained to management, but the behavior didn't stop.

A waitress who spoke up also suffered from retaliation when the male employee deliberately sabotaged her food orders, according to the EEOC.

Jeanne Szromba, trial attorney for the EEOC, said the issue came to the commission in February 2004.

"We've talked to a few women who have had bad experiences (at the restaurant)," she said. "We don't know the extent of it yet."

She said the commission wasn't sure yet how long the alleged harassment was allowed to go on. The EEOC filed the suit after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement, according to a news release.