De-greening teens: programs geared toward recruiting and orienting teens to the workplace can help avoid serious legal and practical problems.

Four months ago, seven teenage employees struck it rich on the job--but their newfound income wasn't in the form of salary: The teens shared a $400,000 settlement of a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against a Burger King franchise in suburban St. Louis.

Brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of the teens, the case stemmed from a series of incidents in which a restaurant manager subjected the girls--six of whom were high school students--to repeated groping, vulgar sexual comments and demands for sex.

The girls--who had never received training on how to make a sexual harassment grievance--complained to three assistant managers, two of whom were also teenagers. However, the young managers felt helpless to assist the girls because the alleged harasser was their boss as well, according to William Moench of Moench & Associates in St. Louis, who represented the teenage girls. Five months later, the girls finally figured out how to go over the boss's head and file an internal complaint with the corporate office.

This case was one of a growing number of suits filed by teen victims claiming harassment on the job. (See "Teen Lawsuits" on page 87.) In February, the EEOC's Phoenix office announced the filing of two more employment discrimination lawsuits involving teens. The suits involve sexual harassment of male and female teen employees, including same-sex harassment, at two different franchises of a national fast-food chain, according to the EEOC statement. No other information was available at press time.

Although the total number of such suits is not astronomical, it should raise concerns among companies that employ large numbers of teens. The reason: When faced with difficult situations such as harassment, many teens simply quit, experts say--leaving employers unaware of a serious management problem that can continue to cause legal liability and that has already driven away workers, thereby leading to increased recruiting, hiring and training costs.

Such legal and practical issues are the latest in a string of concerns related to hiring teens, say experts. For example, teens' focus on seasonal jobs, frequent job hopping and high turnover create additional challenges for employers.

"Teenage workers far too often accept jobs but never stay on the job long enough to develop important work skills, to know what a good job looks like or to get really good at their job," says Fred Martels, president of People Solution Strategies, an employee and customer loyalty consulting firm in Chesterfield, Mo. "This negative job pattern tends to repeat itself, and it can cause challenges for employers."