"There is broad agreement that the restaurant industry is rife with sexual harassment.
More than 70% of female restaurant employees have been sexually harassed, one recent survey found, and half experience sexual harassment on a weekly basis, according to another. Harassment complaints come to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from restaurant industry workers more often than from any other sector.
Now a new two-part scientific study looks to confirm why.
Dependence on tipped wages, along with job requirements to appear friendly and pleasant — in other words 'service with a smile' — jointly create a culture of sexual harassment, according to a team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame, Penn State University and the Emlyon Business School in France, who say their study is the first to provide an empirical link between tipping and sexual harassment.
'Much of the research and media attention has focused on why organizational insiders, or other employees engage in sexual harassment. It really didn't address why service employees were likely to face sexual harassment from organizational outsiders, like customers,' said Timothy Kundro, a professor at Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. 'We wanted to uncover what factors could be driving this given its prevalence.'"
