A lawsuit has been filed against the former manager of a Zaxby’s restaurant in Jacksonville after two young female employees claimed the manager sexually harassed them on the job.
The lawsuit was filed against Andre Clements Jr. and S&R Foods of North Jacksonville Inc., which owns the Zaxby’s on Airport Road. The suit also names Zaxby’s Operating Company, L.P., the formal name of the national chain, as a defendant.
The lawsuit, which is seeking monetary damages, said that employees were sexually harassed and physically assaulted by Clements, a registered sexual offender who was on probation when he was hired in 2021 for a crime committed against a child younger than 16 years old in Broward County. The lawsuit claims that the company had previous knowledge of Clements’ criminal history when he was hired.
According to the lawsuit, Clements was accused in August of following female employees into the bathroom and recording them and is now being investigated by Jacksonville police.
The lawsuit claims that Clements would also take the cell phones of female employees, ask for their passcodes and possibly look at their private messages and photos. Clements would tell the employees he was taking their phones so he could take a photo of the menu so they could memorize it, according to the lawsuit, but would sometimes disappear into his office for up to 30 minutes.
The employees, both high school students who worked at the restaurant for about three months, said that Clements inappropriately touched female team members by rubbing up against them or forcibly giving them hugs.
The store’s assistant manager, who is also a registered sexual offender, kept his job for at least two months after the claims against Clements resulted in his firing. The assistant manager was hired as part of a prison work release program, according to the lawsuit.
“Zaxby’s should have implemented policies which would have prevented persons with the criminal histories of Clements and [the store’s assistant manager] from being hired or, at the very least, would have prevented them from being put in a position to supervise young female employees,” a Morgan & Morgan attorney wrote in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday. “Zaxby’s complete failure to supervise its employees created a work environment in which Plaintiffs were subjected to unlawful, severe, and traumatizing conduct for which Zaxby’s must be held accountable.”
The employee said at least 10 female teenagers worked at the restaurant managed by the two men.
Lawsuits filed in court represent only one side of the story, and the attorneys for S&R Foods of North Jacksonville Inc. have yet to file a response.
News4JAX called S&R Foods of North Jacksonville Inc. on Wednesday and a manager declined to comment on the lawsuit and said the owner of the store may call back to offer a comment.
News4JAX has also chosen not to name the assistant manager in the lawsuit because he has not been accused of a crime. It’s also News4JAX policy to withhold the names of victims of alleged crimes.
An email to Zaxby’s corporate office was not immediately returned.
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