On March 6, 2019, the 20-year business partnership between celebrity chef Mario Batali and the Bastianich family of restaurateurs, Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, was formally dissolved following allegations by several women more than a year ago that he sexually assaulted and harassed them at his restaurants years earlier. Tanya Bastianich Manueli and her brother Joe Bastianich have bought all of Mr. Batali’s shares in the restaurants. As a result, Mr. Batali has been fully divested and will no longer profit from his former restaurant group, and his name already has been removed from the group’s website. A new company (not yet named) has been formed to replace the now-defunct Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group. Ms. Bastianich Manueli will run day-to-day operations at the new company.

Batali’s exit from the restaurant group more than a year after the sexual assault and harassment allegations highlights that allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace can have a long-lasting, deleterious effect on business and, undoubtedly, on morale. The Bastianich family’s move to separate itself and its restaurants from Mr. Batali and the sexual misconduct of which he was accused also signals to employers in the hospitality industry that they are not yet out of the spotlight when it comes to sexual harassment awareness and prevention. As noted in our February 25 post, attempts to target and reform working conditions in the hospitality industry continue to develop and two states – New Jersey and Illinois – recently proposed legislation that would require restaurants to adopt a sexual harassment training policy and provide anti-sexual harassment training to employees. Several states, including New York and California, already require all private employers (of a particular size) to provide sexual harassment training to their employees.

Given the attention that Mr. Batali’s divestment from his restaurant group has drawn and the ongoing efforts to address sexual harassment in the workplace and in the hospitality industry, in particular, restaurant-employers should consider implementing a sexual harassment policy and training program now.