Twin Cities Culver’s franchisee agrees to payouts after workers claimed race, gender hostilities

Federal regulators and a Twin Cities fast-food franchisee have agreed to pay monetary settlements to young people who said they were subjected to on-the-job racist, homophobic and sexist taunts, as well as hostilities aimed at a disabled worker.

The proposed settlements of the civil rights lawsuits between R&G Endeavors Inc., which operates the Culver’s near the 80th Street exit off Hwy. 10 in Cottage Grove, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of the former employees were spelled out in filings in U.S. District Court last week.

The settlements, if approved by Judge Jeffrey Bryan, would mean a $103,500 payout to a group of five females, and payouts of $82,500 to one person and $75,000 to another.

The agreements between the parties would take effect under what is called a consent decree, meaning the suits would be resolved without the franchisee’s admission of wrongdoing.

The EEOC has declined to take questions about the proposed settlement. Attorneys for the franchisee were contacted Thursday for comment.

Also included in the agreement are requirements that Culver’s adopt and carry out anti-discriminatory policies and practices.

According to the EEOC’s filings, which were made in May 2023:

In one instance, managers and other employees singled out a gay and Black employee with racial and homophobic insults. They discussed his sex life, and one of them referred to him as the restaurant’s “adopted African child.”

Female employees, some as young as 14, were exposed to sexual harassment that included unwanted touching, jokes and propositions.

One young employee with an undisclosed disability was the target of bullying and disability related slurs. Also, he was paid less than nearly all of his co-workers without disabilities.

Employees reported these incidents to management, but the company “failed to reasonably address the harassment or discipline those responsible,” read a statement from the EEOC.

“These forms of discriminatory harassment in the workplace are never acceptable,” Greg Gochanour, a regional attorney for the EEOC’s Chicago District Office, said at the time the suits were filed. “All employees — regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation or disability — should enjoy an equal right to safety, dignity, and respect in their place of work, and the EEOC will vigorously enforce that right, through litigation if necessary.”