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Former Juventino Employees Claim Harassment
Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 12:11PM 
Twenty-two former employees of Juventino, the farm-to-table restaurant on Fifth Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets, have started a website in which they accuse owner Juventino Avila of inappropriate advances towards the female wait staff.
The site, Juventino Disclosed, details the experiences of the former workers, who claim to have "experienced an intolerable level of abuse" from Avila. The environment behind the scenes at the restaurant is so toxic, they claim, that "17-hour workdays without breaks are expected, and at its most despicable, young women are subjected to unwanted sexual advances behind the closed and locked doors of Juventino’s office."
Jezebel has published a lengthy feature in which they lay out many of the individual allegations. They also speak with Avila, who denies any wrongdoing. "If I have done something, I'm guilty of being aggressive and strong minded," he told the blog. "[Sexual harassment] is something I would never condone or be a part of. I know it's common at restaurants, but I don't accept it." Juventino's owner, Rebecca Uberti (who has also lived with Avila since 1996), calls the allegations "detailed lies from disgruntled employees who may or may not have been terminated for poor job performance."
The former employees claim that the purpose behind their site is to raise awareness of what they allege has been transpiring, and to give a voice to all restaurant workers who have been in similar situations.
"In a community concerned with workers’ rights and conscious consumerism," they write, "we feel it is only fair to enlighten you to an environment that exists in your very neighborhood."
Reader Comments (13)
22 former employees and no lawsuit?
@englebert: you're kidding, right? how many of those employees are documented US citizens? how many are people of means to hire a lawyer. how many felt comfortable discussing their experiences with other employees?
on the other hand, if a small joint like that now has 22 former employees, you gotta believe there's no job security (or job satisfaction) there. whether or not the accusations are true, this spells trouble for mr. j and his restaurant.
well this seals the deal for me. i saw that guy be utterly rude to a customer (stroller mom) and was very uncomfortable w. the situation. no mas.
a commenter on eater called him a "culinary Sandusky"
Well the PS Supreme Court has made its decision: (Gavel Sounding 3 times)
"WE WILL NO LONGER SUPPORT THIS ESTABLISHMENT."
Maybe we can allow a few RUDE experiences here & there fall to the way-side, but the outright Sexual Harassment and Infringement of people's rights is just UNACCEPTABLE.
Guilty! We in Park Slope don't require evidence!
I've learned a thousand times over that, in food service circles, there are a thousand sides to every story.
Everything from the Gorilla walkout to the wage shortage list of a couple of years back had logical explanations from both sides. In the case of Gorilla, management had as many gripes as to those employees as they had from Gorilla. In the wage situation, many restaurant owners were forced to go with the story because the alternative was revealing that they were paying those employees extra in cash that couldn't be disclosed.
Sadly, and taking the risk of taking a real story lightly, I reserve judgement. I also can say that I haven't eaten at this place since it ws Get Fresh Market because there's nothing really particually special about it.
This restaurant will be replaced by a new Talde restaurant or burger joint within two months...
I have an idea.
Let's replace this with a place that's half-restaurant, half-market. We can have people mix and match mains and sides, kinda like Craft does, and charge about twice over what you'd pay somewhere else for them. We'd call it "Freshedy Fresh Fresh" and, because everything is so fresh and mixy-matchy, no one will mind getting fleeced for the same food they can get on one plate somewhere else.
When this all fails, I'll change the name of the restaurant to "Idea Man."
I found that guy obnoxious and I only interacted with him as a diner. If your front of house attitude is poor, I can't imagine what goes on behind the scenes so I can definitely believe the accusations against him. The food is really good, I'm going to miss it!
F gorilla, regardles of who was right theyd sued their employees for exercising their constituional free speech thats enough to never drink that again
Not if they were outright lying and negatively affecting their business based on slander.
The second crop of Gorilla employees were far better than the first, FWIW..
Of course I'd like to see all employers treat their employees well but if yours is not you are free to quit just as you were free to get hired. This whole thing about lawsuits is just ridiculous.