The restaurant industry is a common setting for sexual harassment to take place, unfortunately. Due to high turnover and staff and the difficulty of monitoring employee behavior in a potentially chaotic atmosphere, a hostile work environment is not all that uncommon.

For instance, in our most recent post, we discussed three women who say they were sexually harassed at an Alabama barbecue restaurant. And Herman Cain, a presidential candidate who recently suspended his campaign, had been accused of sexually harassing several women while he worked as chief executive of the National Restaurant Association.

According to Nation's Restaurant News, overall claims of sexual harassment have decreased nationwide over the last several years. However, many are settled and go unreported. And claims involving the restaurant industry still make up an alarming percentage of the total. An audit of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data reportedly shows that 26 of 75 sexual harassment claims filed with the federal government this year involved the food service industry.

One expert says that, because of the fast-paced environment in many restaurants, managers often struggle to monitor the workplace or address harassment before it occurs.

Even though total claims with the EEOC have dropped, claims filed by men have actually increased. Men made up a total of over 16 percent of all claims in 2010, up by nearly 5 percent from over a decade before.

Another change in claims: allegations involve more physical incidents, rather than just verbal harassment. It's more common to see a combination of verbal and physical harassment, experts say. It's a problem the restaurant industry will need to continue to monitor.

Source: Nation's Restaurant News, "Looking at sexual harassment in the restaurant industry," Ron Ruggless, Dec. 5, 2011