Federal agency slaps Scalo restaurant with sexual harassment lawsuit

A complaint filed by a former server at Scalo restaurant alleging she was fired for rebuffing sexual advances from her manager has led to a federal lawsuit against owners of the Nob Hill business.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit June 30 alleging the restaurant engaged in sexual harassment and retaliation against female employees.

Female workers experienced “unwelcome verbal and physical sexual harassment and a male manager who requested sex in exchange for more hours on the schedule,” the lawsuit alleges.

The suit also alleges that Scalo created a hostile work environment for employees on the basis of sex and retaliated against them for reporting sexual harassment. The events listed in the suit occurred from 2022 through 2024.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, names VinoCibo LLC as the defendant and identifies the owners as Kristie and Prashant Sawant. The Sawants were largely absentee owners who “never met or interacted with most Scalo employees,” the suit alleges.

The Sawants did not immediately respond Wednesday to phone and email messages seeking comment. Federal court records do not show that VinoCibo has an attorney.

A message on Scalo’s website says the restaurant closed June 15 for “renovations and rebranding” and will reopen “under new ownership in a few weeks.”

Many of the incidents alleged in the suit involve a woman hired in October 2022 as a cocktail server at Scalo who was considered by managers “good at her job and a good worker.” Throughout her employment, a manager “subjected her to unwanted touching, sexual comments, and requests to go out with him,” which she rejected, the suit alleges.

The manager curtailed her work hours and ultimately fired her in March 2023, allegedly for tardiness, even though she had clocked in early for work the day she was fired, the suit alleges. Scalo did not have a consistently enforced attendance policy, nor did it have policies or training for managers on harassment, it said.

The former server filed a complaint with the EEOC in December 2023. The EEOC investigated the charge and sent Scalo a letter in December 2024 seeking mediation talks with the restaurant “to eliminate the unlawful employment practices,” but was unable to reach an agreement.

The investigation found a generalized pattern of sexual harassment by supervisors toward female employees, the suit alleges.

“Female employees other than (the cocktail server) were also subjected to a sexually hostile work environment by managerial officials and supervisors at Scalo,” it said.

Scalo’s owners took no action in response to a complaint from a female employee in November 2023, it said. “Some (women) felt so uncomfortable by the constant harassment and Scalo’s inaction that they felt they had no other option but to resign.”

The suit seeks unspecified back pay and compensation for the former server and other female workers, to be determined at trial. It also asks a judge to order Scalo to implement policies and training for managers to prevent sexual harassment in the future.