A 3rd DCA panel on Wednesday ordered unemployment benefits for a Pollo Tropical employee who quit after getting no action on her sexual harassment complaint against a manager. The case was handled by LSGMI Attorney Megan Matthews.

The woman, a nine-year employee, quit a week after she complained to a general manager and a district manager that her supervisor, an assistant manager, touched her buttocks. She also reported he grabbed a man’s genitals, stole from her cash register and used the word “faggot.”

The woman was denied a transfer. A human resources manager told the woman that her allegations could not be corroborated but didn’t say that referred only to her harassment allegation.

The assistant manager and general manager were fired two weeks after the woman left, but no one told the woman who complained.

The Agency for Workforce Innovation sided with the woman on her unemployment claim. An appeals referee reversed the decision, concluding the woman’s fear of repeated harassment was “simply speculative,” and the state Unemployment Appeals Commission agreed with the referee.

Judge Leslie Rothenberg wrote the woman “made reasonable efforts to preserve her employment.” Judges David M. Gersten and Vance E. Salter concurred.