Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Utah franchise company.
- The agency claims the franchise company failed to prevent sexual harassment at a Subway location.
- Training on employee protections is crucial to protect young people entering the workforce, the lawsuit says.
SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Utah franchise management company over claims the company failed to prevent a male manager from sexually harassing and assaulting a teen employee.
Franchise Management, LLC, operates more than 20 Subway sandwich shops in Utah. The lawsuit alleges Franchise Management violated federal law in 2020 when a 16-year-old male employee was subjected to ongoing sexual harassment from a supervisor that culminated in sexual assault.
Justin Thomas Nielson, 40, was the operations and marketing director for Franchise Management. He visited the Provo Subway, 1220 N. 900 East, twice a week, along with overseeing several other stores. He had the authority to hire, discipline and recommend termination of employees, the lawsuit states.
"From June 2020 through September 2020, Nielson sexually harassed (the teen) on a weekly basis," the lawsuit states.
Nielson made sexual comments to the teenager for months before the assault, asking for pictures of him in his underwear and trying to discuss sexual topics with him, according to the commission's lawsuit. Nielson sent pictures of himself in his underwear to the teen and would "graze" his hand over the boy's crotch while he was working, the allegations continue. All these actions made the boy "very uncomfortable," the suit states.
In September 2020, Nielson directed other employees to go to another store. He then led the boy into a back room where he sexually assaulted him, charging documents state.
The teen was so upset by what occurred that he did not return to work, prosecutors say. The employee feared he would see Nielson again or be assaulted again if he went back to work and was scared he would lose his job if he reported the harassment, the lawsuit states.
Shortly after, the boy's parents helped him report the assault to Provo police. Nielson was charged in October 2020 in Fourth Judicial Court with two counts of forcible sodomy, a first-degree felony, and forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
Nielson pleaded guilty in August 2021 to forcible sexual abuse. As part of a plea deal, the forcible sodomy charges were dropped.
The teen filed a charge of discrimination with the Utah Antidiscrimination and Labor Division in June 2021. The charge was transferred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission a few months later, which investigated the incident.
The commission determined Franchise Management had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment, including same-sex harassment. The commission attempted conciliation with Franchise Management but was unable to reach an agreement, which led to the filing of the lawsuit last month.
The lawsuit claims the Subway employees were not trained enough to know how to report sexual harassment, were not given a copy of the employee handbook to know company policy on reporting sexual harassment, and were not given any contact information of the people they would report said harassment to.
Nielson created a hostile work environment for the teen employee and Franchise Management failed to take action to prevent or correct the discriminatory behavior and sexual harassment, the lawsuit alleges. Working conditions became so intolerable that the teen "reasonably felt compelled to resign."
"Young workers are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment because they have less work experience and may be afraid to report an older or more powerful harasser," said Mary Jo O'Neill, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regional attorney. "This is why training on employment protections under Title VII and maintaining a work environment free of harassment is especially important to protect young people starting out in the workplace."
