Tavern on the Green, the famous New York restaurant, agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit.
The commission said that the restaurant had “engaged in severe and pervasive” sexual and racial harassment of female, black and Hispanic employees. “Verbally, female employees were subjected to repeated comments related to sexual positions, sexual acts, female genitalia and even demands for sexual favors,” Kam S. Wong, a lawyer for the commission, said at a news conference. “Physically, female employees were also grabbed, groped and fondled.” When the federal commission filed the lawsuit last September, it said a top manager had severely harassed black and Hispanic employees, sometimes addressing them as “ignorant immigrants” and ridiculing their accents.