Morse courthouse.jpg

The Wayne Morse U.S. Courthouse, in Eugene, was dedicated in 2006.

(The Oregonian/File)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal lawsuit in Eugene this week that accuses the Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain of unlawfully discriminating against its male bartenders and servers by hiring only women for summer positions at its Park City, Utah, location.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction that would prevent Ruby Tuesday from depriving men of employment opportunities based on their sex; an order forcing the company to eradicate its wrongful employment practices; and to pay losses suffered by two male workers denied jobs in the summer of 2013.

Ruby Tuesday advertised temporary positions at the Park City restaurant that summer, but the chain showed explicit and exclusive preference for female applicants, and did not hire men based on their gender, the EEOC alleges.

The Tennessee-based company did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Friday.

The commission's lawyers represent Andrew Herrera, who worked at a Corvallis Ruby Tuesday franchise, and Joshua Bell, who worked at the company's restaurant in Republic, Missouri.

"It's an unusual lawsuit," said John Stanley, a supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC in Seattle.

Stanley, who has served 27 years with the commission, said he could not recall the EEOC confronting a case where a company discriminated against men -- and gave preference to women -- in quite the same way.

The EEOC accuses the restaurant chain of denying those men and others the chance to earn more money, gain valuable experience, and take advantage of free housing during the summer assignment.

Ruby Tuesday instead chose seven women from other of the chain's restaurants for those jobs, a violation of the Civil Rights Act, the EEOC alleges.

Lawyers for the commission invited Ruby Tuesday to participate in meetings to work things out, but they wrote in their civil complaint that efforts to conciliate the matter failed.

The EEOC accuses Ruby Tuesday of unlawful employment practices, beginning in at least March 2013, in a nine-state region: Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada and Utah.

-- Bryan Denson

503-294-7614; @Bryan_Denson