A federal agency is suing an owner and operator of Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants, accusing the company of refusing to hire male applicants for bartender positions in Arkansas.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday that it had filed a discrimination lawsuit against R Wings R Wild LLC, which does business as Buffalo Wild Wings.
The suit accuses the company’s location in Arkansas’ capital city of informing a male applicant that the restaurant was looking to hire a female bartender.
Other male applicants applied for bartender positions and were denied jobs in Arkansas and Oklahoma, according to the filing in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The EEOC, claiming a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, said it is seeking monetary relief in the form of back pay compensatory and punitive damages as well as compensation for lost benefits and an injunction against future discrimination.
The agency said it first tried to reach a pre-litigation settlement but those efforts were unsuccessful.
R Wings R Wild, a limited liability company, owns and operates 16 independent Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.