Zaxby’s hired sex offender as manager and he preyed on Florida teen workers, suit says
Two sisters who used to work at a Zaxby’s in Florida are suing the restaurant chain, saying a convicted sex offender hired as a manager preyed on them and other employees.
The former Jacksonville Zaxby’s crew members also filed their lawsuit against the manager, Andre Clements Jr.
Clements, 41, is a registered sex offender in the state of Florida, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records. In June 2021, he was convicted of lewd or lascivious exhibition against a victim under 16 in Broward County, records show.
Zaxby’s hired Clements when he was on parole and at least 10 female teens were working at the restaurant, according to the lawsuit.
He’s accused of sexually harassing and physically assaulting the sisters, who were 18 and 16 when they were employees and “had no option” but to resign in August, a complaint filed Dec. 5 says.
According to the complaint, Clements inappropriately touched female staff, including by touching their upper legs when they worked the drive-thru, pressing his groin against at least two employees and forcibly hugging employees.
On Aug. 20, “Clements was caught following female employees into the female restroom and recording them,” leading to his arrest and an ongoing investigation, the complaint says.
Contact information for Clements wasn’t immediately available on Dec. 8.
Zaxby’s is accused of negligently hiring Clements as a manager. The complaint further accuses Zaxby’s of negligently hiring another convicted sex offender as the assistant manager of the Jacksonville restaurant.
Though the assistant manager is listed as a registered sex offender in Florida, he is not named as a defendant or accused of wrongdoing in the complaint.
The teens in their lawsuit — which names S&R Foods of North Jacksonville, doing business as Zaxby’s, as a defendant alongside Clements — are seeking more than $50,000 in damages. They are being represented by Morgan & Morgan attorneys John Morgan and James Henson.
“Zaxby’s allegedly chose to employ people who had previous criminal convictions related to child sex crimes, put them in leadership positions, and allegedly did nothing to supervise them adequately around minors,” Morgan and Henson said in a statement provided to McClatchy News on Dec. 8.
“One of these managers preyed on young female employees and subjected them to traumatic harassment that will live with them for the rest of their lives,” they added.
Clements no longer manages the Jacksonville Zaxby’s, an S&R Foods of North Jacksonville Inc. spokesperson told McClatchy News in a statement on Dec. 8.
“We at S&R Foods of North Jacksonville, Inc. care about the safety and well-being of all our employees, and we take these allegations very seriously,” the spokesperson said.
“At the moment, we are not able to comment further on this ongoing legal matter,” the spokesperson added.
Before Clements was caught following female staff into the bathroom in August, he would “regularly” seize female crew members’ cellphones and force them to unlock their phones, according to the complaint.
“Clements claimed it was so he could take a picture of the menu so that the young female crew member could memorize the menu,” the complaint says. “When it was pointed out to him that he could take a picture without unlocking the phone, he would often disappear with the phone for up to thirty (30) minutes.”
Zaxby’s is accused of not protecting their female employees from Clements despite being aware of his criminal background, according to Morgan & Morgan.
This story was originally published December 8, 2023 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Zaxby’s hired sex offender as manager and he preyed on Florida teen workers, suit says."
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