EEOC gets pizza with ‘the works’ in Pizza Hut lawsuit

A sexually hostile work environment and retaliation case from Houston was settled earlier this month. For some lessons, read on.

Love affair goes off the rails

Jacqueline King managed a pizza restaurant for Ayvaz Pizza, which is the second largest Pizza Hut franchisee in the country. She and her Area Coach started an on-again, off-again romantic relationship. When King decided to break if off, the Area Coach was none too pleased and allegedly exercised his authority by making it harder to do her job. I imagine the conversations went like this: Out of dough? Tough. Oven not working? Later. Napkins? Too newfangled an invention. 

This all culminated in King confronting the Area Coach with his actions at her store (that is, his inactions) and his retaliating by tossing a drink at her. She then filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The agency found reasonable cause to believe Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was violated. It filed a lawsuit on King’s behalf when settlement talks failed.

After the lawsuit was filed, Ayvaz decided—without admitting wrongdoing—to settle. But here’s a pro tip: Once the EEOC commences litigation, it will only settle via a consent decree that must be approved by the court and is a public record anyone can access. And when settlement is by way of a consent decree, well, the EEOC asks for and gets “the works.”

The works

The company had to agree to a variety of terms: