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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 1, 2018
THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY TO PAY $15,000
TO SETTLE EEOC DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION SUIT
Federal
Agency Says Restaurant Changes That Result From Suit
Will
Benefit Deaf Employees
SEATTLE —The Cheesecake Factory and
its wholly owned subsidiary will pay $15,000 and implement changes to settle a
federal disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.
According to the EEOCs suit, The
Cheesecake Factory’s Seattle restaurant failed to provide an effective accommodation
for Oleg Ivanov, who is deaf and was a newly-hired dishwasher, then subsequently
fired him for issues associated with his disability. The agency’s investigation found that The
Cheesecake Factory denied Ivanov’s requests for orientation training with
either closed captioned video or an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter.
The EEOC alleged in its suit that
the company’s refusal to accommodate Ivanov violated the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which requires employers to provide reasonable
accommodation to an employee or job applicant with a disability, unless doing
so would cause significant difficulty or expense. It is also illegal to punish
an employee with a disability for requesting a reasonable accommodation. After first attempting to reach a pre-litigation
settlement through the agency's conciliation process, the EEOC filed the
lawsuit (EEOC v. The Cheesecake Factory,
Inc. and The Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, Inc., 2:16-CV-1942-JLR.) in U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Washington
As part of a two-year consent
decree, The Cheesecake Factory will pay $15,000 to Ivanov for back pay and
compensatory damages, and has agreed to provide closed captioning for the
training and orientation videos that are required viewing for new hires. The company will also provide more detailed
descriptions to managers and employees on how the company is to provide
reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities in the future.
“We are pleased that The Cheesecake
Factory has agreed to work with the EEOC to help dismantle barriers that
individuals with disabilities face in the workplace,” said Nancy Sienko, director
of the EEOC’s Seattle Field Office. “The changes will help future deaf
applicants and employees at The Cheesecake Factory.”
EEOC
Supervisory Trial Attorney John Stanley added, “All Mr. Ivanov wanted was the
opportunity to work at The Cheesecake Factory on a level playing field with hearing
employees, with accessible training on how to clock in for his shifts and how
to use the online scheduling system. These changes should help alleviate the
isolation that a deaf employee can experience in the workplace, and equip the
employee with the basic tools to succeed.”
According
to company information, the Cheesecake Factory Inc., based in Calabasas Hills,
Calif., employs more than 37,000 people in 37 different states and had over $1.9
billion in revenue from its operations in 2014, the year in which Ivanov worked
at the company’s Seattle restaurant.
The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by
enforcing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. More information
is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected
with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email
updates.
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