A male employee at a seafood restaurant repeatedly sexually harassed a female employee and refused to rehire her after she quit, according to a federal lawsuit.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed its complaint September 27 in federal court against Minden Seafood LLC and Dorcheat Seafood LLC. The two companies are an integrated enterprise and a single employer based in Minden. They shared policies, management, ownership and employees.
According to the complaint, the female employee, Tiffany Frankel, was a cashier at the restaurant since 2011. In February 2021, co-worker Ledderick “Bubba” Edwards started working with her at Minden Seafood. Soon thereafter, she says he began sexually harassing her.
Frankel says Edwards repeatedly and persistently subjected her to unwelcome sexual advances, including making unwanted and inappropriate comments about her body, sexually propositioning her and following her into a bathroom and exposing himself to her.
She says she complained to restaurant owner Jeremy Wesson, who she says allowed Edwards to continue working with the female employee.
Frankel says Edwards also harassed other female workers. One time, she says he followed her into the women’s restroom and exposed himself to her. He told her he wanted to put a “Magnum (condom) on it” and “stick it one time.” Frankel says she was terrified and feared Edwards would rape her. She contacted police, who arrested Edwards.
The next day, she complained to Wesson again about Edwards and asked that he not be allowed to work when she was scheduled. But he continued to allow Edwards to work with Frankel.
She says she worked for three more days. But finding conditions intolerable, Frankel says she felt compelled to resign on November 15, 2021.
Two days later, Frankel told Wesson she was pressing charges against Edwards and asked to return to work at Dorcheat Seafood away from Edwards, but her request was denied.
“Defendants did not rehire Ms. Frankel because she had complained of sexual harassment and opposed Edwards’ sexual advances,” the complaint states. “Said complaints and opposition constituted activity protected by Title VII” of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment, constructive discharge and retaliation.
“Under Title VII, employers have a duty to protect their employees from sexual harassment at work,” EEOC Field Director Michael Kirkland said in a press release. “The EEOC will diligently investigate, and, if necessary, file suit against employers that violate the rights of their employees.”
Elizabeth Owen, senior trial attorney for the New Orleans Field Office, is the lead attorney on the case.
“Retaliation against harassment victims is unlawful,” she said in the press release. “Protecting an individual’s right to oppose discrimination by reporting it in the workplace is an important part of the laws the EEOC enforces.”
The EEOC seeks a permanent injunction enjoining the defendants from such discrimination and an order for the defendants to institute policies to prevent unlawful harassment and to provide equal employment opportunities to women. It also seeks to have the defendants compensate Frankel for all past and future damages, including backpay, emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience and humiliation as well as punitive damages, court costs and other relief.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:24-cv-2360