Waiter wins suit against Friday's

A jury says the former employee faced sexual harassment on the job and awards him $125,500.

By LARRY DOUGHERTY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000

TAMPA -- Peter Corradino was a waiter at T.G.I. Friday's in Brandon when, he says, female employees began touching him and grabbing for his privates.

He says he protested, and the male employees started calling him fag and queer, questioning why he didn't like what the female employees were doing.

Corradino, who had a girlfriend at the time, says he complained to management. But nothing changed.

"I would wake up in the morning and not want to go to work," Corradino said. "It wears you down."

Thursday, a federal jury concluded Corradino had been sexually harassed, and awarded him $125,500 for suffering and lost wages.

They found that T.G.I. Friday's Inc. failed to take corrective action when it learned of the harassment, and that Corradino incurred retaliation for complaining.

"I feel relieved -- I feel vindicated," Corradino said shortly after the verdict Thursday, which came at the end of a four-day trial in federal court. Corradino, 29, now lives in Fort Myers.

The lawyer who represented T.G.I. Friday's Inc. could not be reached Thursday.

The company was the sole defendant in the case. The franchisee that owned the restaurant at the time was not a defendant. Nor were any present or former employees.

"Employers need to understand that males need to be treated the same as females," said Corradino's attorney, Mitchell Fraley of Tampa.

What made the verdict all the more important, Fraley said, was that Corradino's case hinged almost entirely on his word alone.

Corradino's account was at odds with the accounts of the restaurant employees and company officials who testified, Fraley said.

The sole supporting witness Corradino relied on was his father, who did not witness the harassment. Instead, he told the jury about the harassment his son reported in their regular telephone conversations.

"There was no middle ground," Fraley said. The jury "decided Peter Corradino was telling the truth, and the other side was not."

Corradino had worked for T.G.I. Friday's restaurants in the northeast and Florida for nearly eight years when, he said, the harassment began in December 1997. Corradino said he complained immediately, but the harassment continued.

At the trial, company representatives said Corradino didn't complain until the following April, shortly before he quit.

Company officials said they took corrective measures, but they couldn't produce any written reprimands they had issued employees, Fraley said.

The last straw came when Corradino tried to transfer to another T.G.I. Friday's in the north, and found out he had been effectively blackballed, Fraley said.

The jury awarded Corradino $100,000 to compensate him for pain and suffering caused by the sexual harassment. At trial, Corradino testified that the abuse contributed to his breakup with his girlfriend.

The jury also awarded him $25,000 for suffering incurred by his filing a complaint, and $500 in lost pay.

As the prevailing plaintiff in a federal discrimination action, Corradino has the right to seek his attorney's fees from T.G.I. Friday's.

His attorney is expecting an appeal of the verdict.

-- Larry Dougherty can be reached at (813) 226-3337 or dougherty@sptimes.com.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.