Just needing some advice on what to do at this point… Is my restaurant liable for an assault??
for some context me and my boyfriend work together in a restaurant, and have been having some issues with a new male co-worker, Ben (changed name for story) that was recently hired. He had only been with the restaurant a month, and was sexually harassing the female servers, spitting in customers food when he wasn't tipped, wishing rape upon women who stiffed him, and was sending unsolicited pictures to female servers. Me and my boyfriend had finally had enough and decided to approach management with all this information and have some other servers come forward with their stories as well, this was all brought to management's eyes last Saturday, before Mother's day,
Saturday night my boyfriend & 5 other servers tell a manager all of these things and also makes them aware that this male server, Ben, has threatened to “beat his ass” after work because he heard that my boyfriend was bringing this all to light. My boyfriend is told that they will look into it and handle the situation accordingly. Well, come Sunday morning, Mother's day, we all show up for our 14 hour shift ready to work and make money, as soon as the doors open, Ben enters the kitchen where everyone is standing, rushes my boyfriend and assaults him. Throwing punches, ripping my boyfriend's shirt from his body, all the while me and many other servers are trying to pull Ben away from my boyfriend. Finally three men from management get the apart and some yelling goes down between me and Ben while they are trying to get him to the back and away from the kitchen. My boyfriend calls 911 and now we are in the legal process of pressing charges, getting restraining orders, and eventually going to court.
What should be done here? The company and higher management was made aware of the situation and did absolutely nothing. Saturday night they pulled him into the office and they told him word for word “We like you as a server and don't care what the others are saying so just keep your head down and don't talk to anybody.” They let him show up for his shift Sunday morning and after I brought it to a mangers attention that I was worried he reassured me “they have their eye on him”…. What needs to be done here? Ben is an MMA and BJJ fighter and was obviously a clear threat to many. Is this not a case of our restaurant being liable?