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A lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accuses a northwest Indiana restaurant of subjecting its female employees to a hostile work environment of sexual harassment.
The commission filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Hammond earlier this month against Bossman Tacos LLC, alleging harassment by male cooks at the restaurant’s location in Highland.
Representatives for the restaurant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the lawsuit, leadership at Bossman Tacos knew since at least November 2021, and possibly as early as 2018, that the head chef and other male cooks were sexually harassing female servers, some of whom were teenagers, but did nothing about it.
The complaint says male cooks would trap female employees in tight spaces, like restrooms and walk-in refrigerators, in order to make unwanted sexual advances, including touching the employees’ hips, backs, and buttocks. The males would also grab their own genitals in a sexual manner while leering at the female employees’ bodies, make lewd and offensive jokes, and proposition the employees for sex, according to the lawsuit.
A female employee alleges that in 2018 the head chef locked her in a restroom, put his hands under her shirt, and unzipped her pants without her consent, according to the complaint.
In a 2022 incident, the head chef is accused of exposing himself to a female employee whom he had cornered into a confined space.
According to the lawsuit, the restaurant’s owners Vincent Petrozza and Rachel Trevino were aware of the hostile work environment because the female employees would repeatedly report the harassment to the owners and ask them to address it.
On one occasion, Petrozza allegedly told a female employee, “that is just how teenage boys are,” despite the harassers being adult men, and that he can’t expect the cooks “not to act like that.”
Female employees also said the owners would laugh at and participate in the sexual jokes and comments.
“Employers have a responsibility to create a safe working environment for their employees, especially when the company hires young employees who may not know their rights and may be particularly vulnerable to harassment in the workplace,” EEOC Indianapolis Regional Attorney Kenneth L. Bird said in a written statement. “The EEOC remains steadfast in its mission to combat sexual harassment in the workplace.”
The EEOC is asking the judge to grant a permanent injunction enjoining the defendant and its employees from engaging in discriminatory employment practices.
The commission is also asking Bossman to provide appropriate backpay and compensation to a class of former employees impacted by the harassment.
The case is EEOC v. Bossman Tacos, LLC, Case No. N.D. Ind. no. 2:25-cv-00316.
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