The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit yesterday against New York City restaurant Tavern on the Green, accusing the restaurant of engaging in ?severe and pervasive? harassment of employees, including a manager?s grabbing of female employees? buttocks and breasts and his use of racial epithets toward black and Hispanic employees. In the legal complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, the E.E.O.C. singled out the manager, Leon Drogy, saying he used racial epithets and obscene sexual language about body parts. The lawsuit also asserts that Mr. Drogy, the restaurant?s former director of operations, severely harassed one black worker, Martha Nyakim Gatkuoth, a hostess, often touching her improperly and asking her for sexual favors.
See "Suit Claims Restaurant Looked Past Harassment", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, September 24, 2007