{"id":169,"date":"2017-12-14T20:01:59","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T00:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/?p=169"},"modified":"2020-08-04T16:35:06","modified_gmt":"2020-08-04T20:35:06","slug":"new-years-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/2017\/12\/14\/new-years-resolution\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year\u2019s Resolution for Restaurateurs and Bar Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

By Allegra A. Jones<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As 2017 comes to an end, sexual harassment allegations against celebrity chefs and restauranteurs continue to surface. In the bar and restaurant industry, where alcohol flows like water and employees toil away in close proximity under intense pressure, supervisor and employee misconduct is not entirely surprising.<\/p>\n

The news media is covering the consequences<\/em> of alleged misconduct by celebrity and local chefs, restauranteurs, and TV personalities. They range from Top Chef: Colorado\u2019s<\/em> decision to edit out New Orleans chef John Besh from an episode of the show, to two major retailers\u2019 pulling of Mario Batali-branded products from their shelves, to a Bay Area bar owner reportedly fleeing the country to avoid charges, as reported by Eater<\/em> magazine. But, what still needs to be addressed is how to attack the root<\/em> of the problem.<\/p>\n

It is time for businesses across the country to actively discourage a culture in which inappropriate behavior and comments go unvoiced and unchecked. The standards of conduct and behavioral expectations for employees are often set from the top-down. Restaurants and bars should proactively take affirmative steps to discourage and penalize such behavior in the workplace.<\/p>\n

In California, here are two easy steps to take:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. California employers with five or more employees are required to \u201ctake all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring.\u201d (Cal. Gov. Code \u00a7 12940(k).)\u00a0 Developing a clear and legally-compliant employee handbook \u2013 and taking steps to enforce the policies in the handbook \u2013 are key to fulfilling an employer\u2019s responsibility.<\/li>\n
  2. California employers of 50 or more employees are required to provide a two-hour sexual harassment prevention and anti-bullying training to supervisors every two years.\u00a0 Even if not required by law, restaurant and bar owners should provide, track, and make mandatory for all staff such anti-harassment training.\u00a0 Implementing a training program is a solid first step in setting professional standards, establishing a workplace that encourages reporting, encouraging victims to come forward without fear of retaliation, and protecting the business from claims that it failed to prevent harassment, discrimination and retaliation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Our firm provides in-person, interactive trainings specifically geared toward restaurants and bars regarding harassment, discrimination, retaliation, implicit bias, and workplace sensitivity.\u00a0 A smart New Year\u2019s resolution is to implement such a training program at your business.<\/p>\n

    Disclaimer: This Alert has been prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Allegra A. Jones As 2017 comes to an end, sexual harassment allegations against celebrity chefs and restauranteurs continue to surface. In the bar and restaurant industry, where alcohol flows like water and employees toil away in close proximity under intense pressure, supervisor and employee misconduct is not entirely surprising. The news media is covering … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading “New Year\u2019s Resolution for Restaurateurs and Bar Owners”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[181,195,6,12,26,86,28,84,197,96,85,196,194,198],"ppma_author":[201],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-allegra-a-jones","tag-anti-bullying","tag-bay-area-restaurants","tag-california-restaurants","tag-discrimination","tag-employee-handbooks","tag-employment-law","tag-harassment","tag-implicit-bias","tag-restaurant-law","tag-retaliation","tag-sexual-harassment","tag-training","tag-workplace-sensitivity"],"authors":[{"term_id":201,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"duanemorris3","display_name":"Duane Morris","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/843ff6e7a8fe5fc92109b47a45f34b6cf0ea499e6e788db23456c838b0ae6747?s=96&d=blank&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/thelegaldish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}