A Strip restaurant and its operators have settled the federal sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Bouchon Restaurant, a casual French bistro at The Venetian, and the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, which owns and operates the restaurant, will pay $2 million to settle the federal lawsuit brought by the EEOC, announced the agency Wednesday.
None of the other restaurants under the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group umbrella are involved, and celebrity chef Thomas Keller is not listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Sexual harassment is illegal and continues to be a problem in the restaurant industry,” said Beatriz Andre, acting regional attorney for the EEOC’s Los Angeles District, which includes Las Vegas. “As it did in this action, the EEOC will continue to enforce federal law.”
The EEOC’s press release said male supervisors and coworkers at Bouchon in Las Vegas “subjected female and male employees to sexual harassment, including unwanted and repeated sexual advances, sexual comments, sexually offensive conduct and unwelcome physical contact.” Additionally, Bouchon and Thomas Keller Restaurant Group failed to take action and even retaliated against employees for reporting the incidents.
Male employees “frequently engaged in sexually harassing behavior as well, including: asking female employees to engage in sexual acts such as oral sex in various locations such as the walk-in freezer,” according to the lawsuit filed in the Nevada District court against Bouchon, among many others.
“It is disappointing when a public agency relies on self-congratulatory, deliberately misleading clickbait headlines to distract from its own current internal and external issues,” Thomas Keller Restaurant Group said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Bouchon Las Vegas continues to prioritize evaluating and improving workplace health and welfare initiatives, and elected to resolve these nearly decade-old claims to dedicate resources to our staff and guests instead of litigation.”
The harassment had been occurring since at least 2018, according to the EEOC. The harrassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, including sexual harassment, as well as retaliation.
The EEOC brought forth four separate lawsuits against Bouchon and Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, the Laughlin River Lodge resort-casino, Mariscos El Puerto and La Catrina in 2023. All alleged sexual harassment toward employees by owners, supervisors and management, co-workers and/or customers; as well as verbal harassment and physical assault against gay and lesbian employees at Mariscos El Puerto and La Catrina, among others.
The Laughlin River Lodge settled for $1.2 million in 2025. The other lawsuits have not reached a settlement or ruling.
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.
