Bojangles agrees to pay former worker to settle sex harassment and retaliation case

Charlotte-based fast-food chain Bojangles has settled a sexual harassment and retaliation case for $20,000, federal court documents show.

In September, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Bojangles saying a Greensboro store employee was sexually harassed by her general manager, then transferred and denied promotions in retaliation for complaining about the harassment.

Although the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina court docket showed in April that the case could go to trial in January, a settlement was reached this week.

According to the lawsuit, during the woman’s employment from March to June 2020 at the Bojangles store on Landover Road, the general manager made numerous sexual remarks including wanting “to have sex with her” and he “grabbed (her) buttocks and touched her breasts.”

After telling other supervisors, including an area director who told her “to not tell anyone,” she was denied management training, according to the lawsuit.

About the Bojangles EEOC settlement

Bojangles “full and final settlement” financial total is $20,000, according to the 13-page consent decree filed Tuesday.

Other terms in the settlement include:

▪ Bojangles must provide the woman with a “neutral letter of reference.”

▪ The former general manager and alleged harasser cannot be rehired by Bojangles.

▪ Bojangles must post anti-harassment and retaliation policies in the Greensboro store, including a reporting hotline.

▪ Bojangles is required to provide an array of live, annual and other training programs for the Greensboro store managerial and non-managerial employees.

▪ Bojangles will provide reports to the EEOC for two years.

In an emailed response Wednesday morning to the Observer seeking comment, Bojangles said: “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on legal matters.”

Last year, in response to the filed lawsuit, Bojangles told the Observer it was committed to preventing and eliminating misconduct, including all forms of discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

Bojangles was founded in 1977 in Charlotte, and has more than 760 restaurants throughout the Southeast. In 2019, the chain was sold to two New York firms, Durational Capital Management and The Jordan Co.

Other harassment claims against Bojangles

Bojangles has reached settlements in other sexual harassment and retaliation cases.

In 2017, Bojangles paid $15,000 to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit from a transgender former employee at a Fayetteville store.

In 2012, Bojangles paid over $33,000 to a Greensboro employee who said she was sexually harassed and then fired for complaining about it.

This story was originally published July 26, 2023 at 10:44 AM.