EEOC Sues Pizza Hut for Sex-Based Harassment and Retaliation

HOUSTON – Ayvaz Pizza, LLC, doing business as Pizza Hut, which operates more than 350 Pizza Hut restaurants in ten states and multiple locations in the Houston area, violated federal law when it subjected a female employee to sex-based harassment and retaliation, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC, the employee was harassed by her immediate supervisor after she attempted to break off their personal relationship. Upon the termination of their relationship, the supervisor refused to provide the employee with sufficient product, labor and services to her store. The employee notified human resources about her supervisor’s inappropriate behavior, and she was assigned to work under another supervisor. Approximately two weeks later, she was presented with multiple writeups and terminated, the EEOC said, in retaliation for opposing what she believed to be unlawful discrimination.

Such alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects individuals from sex-based harassment and workplace retaliation. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Ayvaz Pizza, LLC d/b/a Pizza Hut, Civil Action No.: 4:24-cv-04876) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.

The EEOC seeks monetary relief for the victim, including back pay, and compensatory and punitive damages. The EEOC also seeks injunctive relief against the company to end any ongoing sex-based harassment and retaliation, and to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

“The protections against retaliation are vital to the EEOC’s enforcement of civil rights laws,” said EEOC Trial Attorney N. Joseph Unruh. “Retaliation can deter victims and witnesses from reporting workplace discrimination, which impermissibly interferes with the EEOC’s mission. This case should remind all employers to investigate internal complaints of discrimination and not retaliate against those brave enough to oppose discrimination.”

Rayford Irvin, district director in the EEOC’s Houston District Office, said, “Employers have an obligation to protect their employees from all unlawful workplace harassment including that based on sex. When they refuse to do so, it is the EEOC’s responsibility to intercede and to enforce the law.”

For more information on retaliation, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sex-based-discrimination and https://www.eeoc.gov/retaliation. For more information on sex-based discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/sex-based-discrimination.

The EEOC’s Houston District Office has jurisdiction over southeast Texas, as well as all of Louisiana.

The EEOC prevents and remedies unlawful employment discrimination and advances equal opportunity for all. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates.