Feds: Hyde Park restaurant owner to pay in $75K EEOC settlement

A former waitress and hostess at Hyde Park's 3501 Seoul restaurant who accused the owner of raping her will receive a $75,000 settlement, federal officials say.

The lawsuit, filed in April by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), states Kwon "Mike" Choi – whose restaurant group includes The Korea House in Symmes Township and SushiNati in Anderson Township – subjected the waitress to "a sexually hostile work environment." Choi is the chef at these restaurants, which he owns with his wife, Shelly Choi.

Choi, 49, told the waitress he wanted to have sex with her, the lawsuit states, and offered to help pay for her car repairs in exchange for sex. 

The woman says Choi raped her at the 3501 Seoul restaurant in January of 2019. A protection order naming Choi was filed in Hamilton County around that time.

"This traumatic experience with him and the flashbacks have stopped me from going back to normal life," the woman wrote in the petition for the protection order. Both parties in civil court agreed to the order, which will end in April of 2022.

The Chois did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday evening.

After the assault, the lawsuit says Choi constructively discharged the server. The EEOC said the situation became "so intolerable that the employee was compelled to quit." 

The allegations of sexual harassment are in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from unlawful employment practices on the basis of an individual's race, color, religion, sex or national origin, according to the EEOC.

In an August response to the complaint, the restaurant group stated that while both Choi and the waitress were intoxicated, they discussed a sexual relationship. They also discussed the possibility of Choi assisting with paying for her car repairs, although Choi denied "that such conversation was unlawful harassment."

The restaurant group denied all other allegations, documents say.

On Tuesday, Choi's restaurant group agreed to pay the former waitress a $75,000 settlement, a release from the EEOC said. According to the release, the restaurant group will also be required to write an apology to the victim, implement record-keeping and anti-discrimination policies and procedures, create a telephone hotline for employee harassment complaints, implement Title VII training and report all harassment complaints to the EEOC. 

“The EEOC takes claims of sexual harassment very seriously and the agency is dedicated to ensuring that women are protected from unwelcome sexual conduct in the workplace,” EEOC Indianapolis District Director Michelle Eisele said in Tuesday's release.

Choi and his wife moved to the U.S. from South Korea in 1998 and opened The Korea House in August of 2005, according to the SushiNati Facebook page. The couple opened 3501 Seoul in May of 2016 and then SushiNati in 2018.