Cheesecake Factory hit with sexual harassment lawsuit

TAMPA - A former employee of the Cheesecake Factory in Brandon is accusing the company of subjecting him to a barrage of sexual harassment from other male line chefs and punishing him when he complained.
Michael Knight, 42, has filed a federal lawsuit against the company seeking compensation for "mental anguish (and) loss of dignity."
He says line chefs continually grabbed each others' buttocks and genitalia and simulated sexual intercourse in front of him in the restaurant's Westfield Brandon mall location. He contends he was mocked, punished and ultimately fired in September 2008 after he expressed his discomfort and complained.
The Brandon man's allegations are strikingly similar to those made by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the national restaurant chain in an Arizona case that was settled last year for $345,000. In that case, six male employees said they were subject to sexual harassment in a mall restaurant near Phoenix.

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