Posted by Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti, P.C. in News
Oct 5 2019
As it appeared on Journal Inquirer
By Journal Inquirer Staff
MANCHESTER — Two former employees of Maggie McFly’s at the Buckland Hills mall have filed a lawsuit against the restaurant, saying they were subjected to a manager’s sexual harassment in the workplace and when they complained, they were fired, court documents say.
The former employees, Gianna Aconfora and Maizzy Douchette, who had worked as servers at Maggie McFly’s, filed the lawsuit in Hartford Superior Court on Wednesday
An additional defendant in the lawsuit is the manager the woman accuse of sexual harassment, Daniel Therian.
Aconfora and Douchette state in the lawsuit that Therian “forced them to endure pervasive sexual harassment” while on the job.
The woman say that Therian used graphic language to discuss his own and their sexual relationships, made obscene comments about their bodies, and inappropriately touched them, joked about raping them, and “more than once resorted to violence, including slapping Ms. Aconfora across the face and squeezing Ms. Douchette around the neck.”
They also contend that when they complained to senior management about Therian’s conduct, they were later fired “for obviously false reasons,” the lawsuit says.
Aconfora, who began working at the Maggie McFly’s in October 2017, said that from the beginning, Therian created an environment that was lewd, demeaning, and threatening.
Douchette, who began working at Maggie McFly’s in the summer of 2017, says in the lawsuit that Therian adversely commented about her dating an African-American co-worker and made comments about sexually assaulting her. She also alleges Therian inappropriately touched and assaulted her in the workplace.
The women contend they were retaliated against by Maggie McFly’s after they complained about Therian’s behavior and accuse Maggie McFly’s management of negligent supervision of Therian.
A spokesman for Maggie McFly’s, which is headquartered in Southington and operates restaurants in Connecticut, New York, and Virginia, told the Associated Press that the restaurant “vehemently denies the factual allegations” of the women.
Posted by Garrison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti, P.C. in News
Tagged Elisabeth Lee, Joshua Goodbaum
