Spotted Pig Restaurateur Will Pay $240,000 to Settle Sexual Harassment Case

In an October 2018 interview for The Times, Ms. Bloomfield acknowledged not doing enough to protect employees, but said that she also had been manipulated and terrorized by Mr. Friedman during their working relationship. At one time, the two operated seven restaurants together in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. (Today, only two remain open: the Spotted Pig and the Breslin, in the Ace Hotel in Manhattan, where Mr. Bloomfield is the chef.)

Erin Fein, who worked at the Spotted Pig and also at Hearth Hound, the Los Angeles restaurant that Mr. Friedman and Ms. Bloomfield opened days before the Times report was published, said she was “blown away” by the investigation and its resolution. After two decades in the restaurant business, being constantly touched and propositioned by male bosses and customers, “you feel powerless and afraid and you assume that nothing will be done,” she said.

The settlement is a victory for working women but there is still a long way to go, said Trish Nelson, a longtime server who said she was frequently harassed by Mr. Friedman and his guests.

“I think that for all of us, we are ready to move on from this,” she said, “but at the same time we know we have only scratched the surface of the problems in this industry.”

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Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/dining/spotted-pig-ken-friedman-sexual-harassment.html?emc=rss&partner=rss