Former Del Taco shift manager Daisyrose Spradlin had just been promoted when a newly hired co-worker started sending her lurid photos and videos, including those of himself having sex. But after she reported the sexual harassment to her supervisor, she was fired.
So argues Spradlin in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The lawsuit comes while Del Taco is under a three-year consent decree stemming from a separate sexual harassment case filed in 2018 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC. Del Taco agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle that case in 2020 and the company agreed to be monitored for three years by a compliance officer to ensure steps were taken to stop harassment and related retaliation.
Del Taco, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on ongoing legal activity.
In the recent lawsuit, 24-year-old Spradlin said she had completed training to move into a shift manager role at the company-owned location in Granada Hills, Calif., when the harassment occurred in October. She alleges that she had just met the newly hired cook named Tristan Ibanez for the first time in person when working a graveyard shift that night. Though the two had spoken by phone previously to conduct onboarding, she did not hire him. Ibanez is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
The two were working alone at the restaurant when the conversation “escalated from pleasant discussion to sexually charged and inappropriate,” the lawsuit said, despite her counseling him to stop.
Her description includes incidents where Ibanez allegedly grabbed her and made vulgar statements. After the shift, he sent her graphic photos and videos of himself engaging in various sex acts.
Spradlin said she went back to work the next day to report the behavior to her supervisor and show him the evidence, but she described the supervisor as less than supportive, saying it would be passed to HR and that he was worried about losing a worker. She said no action was taken and the harassment continued, prompting both the woman’s father and boyfriend to come to the supervisor with concerns about her safety at work.
Spradlin said her hours started to be cut without explanation. After speaking with HR officials, she was suspended and later terminated, which she alleges was retaliation for her complaint.
She later filed a police report charging Ibanez with sexual battery, according to the lawsuit. It’s not clear whether Ibanez is still employed by Del Taco.
Under the consent decree signed in 2020, Del Taco agreed to ensure the chain’s workplace would be free of harassment and retaliation, including prevention training, the development of a reporting procedure and other revised policies companywide.
That settlement stemmed from an EEOC lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation against young female workers who were subjected to unwelcome physical contact, vulgar comments and propositions for sex from a general manager and shift leader at restaurants in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. When the women complained, HR failed to respond adequately or stop the harassment or retaliation, according to the EEOC.
Jack in the Box Inc. acquired Del Taco in a $585 million deal that was completed earlier this year. The Superior Court case names Del Taco LLC and Del Taco Restaurants Inc., but not Jack in the Box Inc.
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