The former owners of Racine's IHOP have been ordered to pay $105,000 to two waitresses who were sexually harassed by an assistant manager.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took the case to trial this month, and announced Monday that a federal jury returned the verdict after a four-day trial.

The two waitresses were teenagers when they worked for IHOP, 5800 Durand Ave. The EEOC says the waitresses were subjected to "unwelcome physical touching, propositions for sex and sexual comments" which created a "sexually hostile and offensive work environment." At least one of the waitresses claimed she was fired because she refused to "submit to the harassment and her opposition to such discriminatory practices."

Other waitresses said they faced the same harassment and reported that Management Hospitality of Racine, the company that operated the IHOP, did not correct the situation. Salauddin Janmohammed owned MHR and his wife owned Flipmeastack, a company involved in the management of the IHOP restaurants the couple owned. Janmohammed no longer owns the Racine IHOP, and dissolved MHR in 2005, according to court documents. The couple still owns about 20 IHOP restaurants, the EEOC said.

In the questions put to the jury, jurors found the first waitress was sexually harassed, but that she was not retaliated against. The jury awarded her $1,000 in compensatory damages.

The jury found the second waitress was also sexually harassed, and that IHOP acted in willful or with reckless disregard of her federally protected rights. The jury awarded her $4,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages.

Jean Kamp, associate regional attorney for the EEOC Chicago District Office, said the women were in their late teens when the harassment took place in 2004 and 2005.

The defense in this case, Kamp said, was that IHOP had a good sexual harassment policy, and that the owners took some action once they knew about the harassment, and fired the store's general manager.

"The evidence was, I think, pretty strong that the harassment had occurred," Kamp said. "Our argument was that, first of all (firing the general manager) is not enough. The policy which allowed this (harassment) to continue is not sufficient. We also argued that firing the general manager was, at least in part, just a coverup at that point."

The assistant manager accused of harassing the staff quit for "unexplained reasons," Kamp said, right around the time the investigations into his conduct began.

It is clear the jury was "outraged" by the way the company handled the situation, Kamp said, something borne out by the $100,000 in damages awarded to one of the waitresses, but "I respectfully disagree with the value placed on the actual harassment itself." The defendant, MHR, will appeal the verdict, according to a press release put out by attorney Robert M. Mihelich. "MHR and Flipmeastack's efforts will be vindicated, as the law does not punish compliant employers who follow equal opportunity directives in good faith," the statement reads.

Mihelich said the jury's award of $1,000 to the first waitress "reflects (she) was not a shrinking violet" and that her claim for damages was exaggerated, pointing out that jurors got to see her MySpace page, with links to sexually-charged materials. The second waitress testified that the restaurant's policies were reasonable and effective, but was still awarded, inappropriately, the defense says, $100,000 in punitive damages.

The companies plan to appeal.