Napa restaurant sued in harassment case

A current employee of Napa’s well-known Bistro Don Giovanni, a Wine Country institution located on Highway 29, filed a lawsuit on April 25 in Napa Superior Court against the restaurant, its ownership group and her supervising chef. The lawsuit alleges sexual harassment, assault, battery, and a failure to prevent and correct the harassment.

In court documents, the plaintiff, Martha Patricia Venegas, alleges that a fellow kitchen worker, Francisco Martinez, threatened to kill her, told her he was going to sexually assault her and often referred to her in Spanish as a “f— lesbian.”

The restaurant’s owner, Giovanni Scala, has not responded to Chronicle requests for comment.

The suit depicts a hostile work environment where upper management did little to address complaints from employees, including Venegas.

“I kept trying to complain, and it was like a game to them,” Venegas said in a statement issued through a translator.

Attorney Alexis McKenna, partner of Winer, McKenna & Burritt, LLP in Oakland, told The Chronicle that her client, Venegas, had yet to hear a response regarding the lawsuit from the restaurant or its legal representation as of Tuesday afternoon.

Venegas worked in the kitchen at Bistro Don Giovanni from 2002 to 2004, then started again in April 2013. The lawsuit claims that Francisco Martinez, who also worked in the kitchen as her de facto supervisor, began subjecting her to “frequent, ongoing, unwelcomed conduct based on her sex and/or sexual orientation” in October 2016.

In subsequent months, the lawsuit states that more than 10 inappropriate incidents took place, including one in February 2017, when Martinez rammed tongs into Venegas’ buttocks, an incident

after which she cried in a bathroom. According to the court documents, Venegas told upper-level employees, including the head chef, that she wanted to file a police report.

Venegas was told that the restaurant’s owner had been made aware of the incident and that Martinez was being given one “last chance.” One month later, Martinez again “approached her and grabbed her butt,” according to the lawsuit. She again went to a bathroom and cried, the document states.

In April 2017, Martinez is said to have groped her breasts, prompting Venegas to report him yet again. In May 2017, he is alleged to have come to work intoxicated on consecutive days.

Martinez was fired in June 2017 after multiple employees complained about his behavior, the documents state. Still, according to the filing, Venegas has continued to endure a hostile kitchen environment as people who worked with Martinez have remained in the kitchen and often commented on her prior complaints.

McKenna said her client, who is seeking unspecified damages, was inspired to come forward and speak out about the behavior in her workplace as the restaurant industry continues to face its history of harassment.

In recent months, chef Charlie Hallowell was accused of sexual harassment and abuse by more than 30 female employees at his Oakland restaurants. Ken Friedman, a co-owner of Tosca Cafe in San Francisco, was accused by 10 female employees of harassment and blacklisting at another New York restaurant.

Earlier this year, Four Barrel Coffee founder Jeremy Tooker was named in a lawsuit that alleged sexual assault and harassment. Meanwhile, celebrity chef Michael Chiarello, owner of Coqueta in San Francisco and Bottega in Yountville, has settled two sexual-harassment lawsuits in recent years.

“Unfortunately, as we’re seeing more and more in this #MeToo era, these things are more common than everyone likes to think,” McKenna said.