Sex Bias Claim Filed by Former Worker at Five Feet

A longtime waitress at the Five Feet Restaurant has sued the owner, a cook and other male kitchen workers at the fashionable eatery, alleging sexual harassment, assault and battery and infliction of emotional distress.

Marti Fitzpatrick, who worked at the popular downtown restaurant for seven years before leaving last September, charged in a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday that Michael Kang, one of the owners, took part in some of the alleged abuse and did nothing to halt his employees’ behavior.

One of Kang’s co-owners, Joseph Gelber, said Wednesday he had not seen the lawsuit but called the charges ludicrous.

“We were aware of her allegations and did a thorough investigation and, based upon our investigation, it’s our opinion they are groundless,” Gelber said.

The lawsuit contends that, “on almost a daily basis,” the kitchen workers called Fitzpatrick offensive names and made her the focus of sexual comments and innuendo. Those abuses included sexually suggestive body gestures by a cook, whom Fitzpatrick claims once physically assaulted her.

Fitzpatrick’s lawsuit contends that she suffered physical injury, severe emotional distress and embarrassment. She is seeking unspecified damages.