Illinois Night Club to Pay $200K in Sex and Race Discrimination Case

Admiral Theatre, Inc., an exotic dance club providing adult entertainment services, will pay $200,000 and furnish other relief to settle a lawsuit for sex and race discrimination and retaliation filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced.

According to the EEOC’s suit, Admiral violated federal law by subjecting female entertainers to hostile and dangerous working conditions where they faced sexual harassment, including egregious physical attacks and assaults from customers, based on sex and race, as well as retaliation for complaining about it. Admiral acceded to customers’ requests for entertainers of certain races, including African Americans, thus subjecting black staffers to particular physical abuse and racial verbal harassment, the EEOC suit found.

One of the entertainers sent an email complaint to management and started a petition calling for sexual assault prevention training and other workplace changes to prevent race and sex discrimination. The company took no steps to correct the situation and proceeded to retaliate against the entertainer by not calling her back to work following COVID pandemic closures, the EEOC said.

Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining about it. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (EEOC v. Admiral Theatre, Civil Action No. 1:24-cv-08989) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

Source: EEOC