On June 22, 2017, Antonella’s Restaurant & Pizzeria settled a national origin discrimination lawsuit for $50,000 following allegations of harassment and an alleged directive to speak “English Only” in the workplace. In addition to alleged disparaging remarks, the EEOC cited to one occasion where a manager supposedly pulled a dollar bill out of his wallet, held it out to the workers and told them, “This is America, you must speak English.” He allegedly lacked a legitimate business reason for doing so.
The consent decree provides for the implementation of anti-discrimination policies, training and problem resolution procedures. Such policies and practices may have prevented the alleged wrongdoing had they been implemented previously.
