Taco Bell Corp. has agreed to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit involving two teenage female employees at a Memphis Taco Bell. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Taco Bell will pay $350,000 in monetary damages to the two women.
The EEOC filed suit against Taco Bell after attempting to reach a voluntary settlement, charging that Terence E. Davis, a former manager at the Frayser Boulevard Taco Bell in Memphis, sexually assaulted a 16-year-old female employee on her first day of work as well as 16-year-old female employee five months earlier. Davis pled guilty in 2009 to raping both women and is currently serving two concurrent eight-year prison terms.
In addition to the monetary settlement, the consent degree, which affects eight Taco Bell stores in the Memphis market, calls for Taco Bell to maintain a written policy against sexual harassment and to widely distribute it to all employees in the Memphis area within 30 days. The company will also conduct anti-discrimination training and posting of anti-discrimination notices.
