Chef sexually harassed Missouri cook and tried trapping her in freezer, lawsuit says
After three months of working as a restaurant hostess, a Missouri woman said she was moved into a new role as a cook.
As a cook at Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl & Grill in Ridgedale, her new supervisor was a chef.
The chef sexually harassed the woman and failed to accommodate her disabilities before she was fired in September 2022, according to a lawsuit filed April 12 in federal court.
In the lawsuit filed in the Western District of Missouri, defendant Big Cedar Lodge, which operates the restaurant, is accused of wrongfully terminating the woman’s employment.
McClatchy News reached out to Big Cedar Lodge for comment on April 17 and is awaiting a response.
The woman began working for Uncle Buck’s Fish Bowl in March 2022, according to the complaint. Big Cedar Lodge knew she had disabilities, including limited mobility and chronic pain, the suit said.
While she is unable to sit still or stand “for long periods of time without pain,” she was “fully able to perform the essential functions of her jobs ... with or without reasonable accommodation,” her attorney said.
Big Cedar Lodge accommodated her disabilities by allowing her to take breaks and eat when she worked multiple shifts on the same day, according to the lawsuit.
That changed when she became a cook in June 2022.
As a cook, she said she was required to work 14-hour shifts without any breaks or the accommodations she was given as a hostess.
Her new supervisor also sexually harassed her, tried trapping her in a walk-in freezer, and asked if he could stay at her home, according to the complaint.
The chef drank alcohol and was intoxicated while working, the lawsuit said.
The woman said she complained to the front of house manager, then was fired.
The lawsuit says she was fired for one of several reasons: because of her sex, because of her disabilities, or in retaliation for either complaining about sexual harassment or requesting disability accommodations.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued the woman a “right to sue” in March 2023 after she filed a charge of discrimination, records show.
She seeks a jury trial and monetary relief.
Big Cedar Lodge offers lodging, restaurants and attractions about 10 miles south of Branson.
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