Olive Garden Hepatitis A Exposure Class Action Lawsuit

By Kimberly Mirando

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Olive Garden after one of the company's Fayetteville, Washington employees tested positive for hepatitis A. The Olive Garden class action lawsuit alleges that the restaurant failed in its responsibility to deliver safe food.

The Olive Garden hepatitis A class action lawsuit alleges that customers at the Fayetteville location were exposed to potentially contaminated food or people. As a result, patrons sustained damages including lost wages, medical expense, "fear of harm and humiliation" and physical pain and injury, the class action lawsuit says.

So far the Olive Garden worker is the only known case of illness, but at least 2, 730 people have received immunizations over the past week at the urging of county health officials.

Allegations in the Olive Garden hepatitis A lawsuit include that that Olive Garden was negligent by failing to require its employees to be vaccinated against hepatitis A and by failing to prevent an employee from working. State health regulations require employers to keep sick employees from working in restaurants by sending the employee home or allowing them to stay home from work. It is not required, however, to have the hepatitis A vaccine to work in the restaurant.

McDonald's faced a similar class action lawsuit over hepatitis A exposure at its Milan, Illinois location in 2009. The McDonald's hepatitis A lawsuit lead to a class action lawsuit settlement of $500,000, which was shared amongst customers exposed to the illness and who filed timely claim forms.

The Olive Garden hepatitis A class action lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $10,000 from Olive Garden and its parent company GMRI, Inc.