The Discrimination Lawsuit That Cost Texas Roadhouse Millions

Texas Roadhouse found itself at the center of one of the largest age discrimination lawsuits ever brought against a U.S. restaurant chain — a legal battle that played out over years and spanned hundreds of locations. According to a press release, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) accused the company of systematically denying front-of-house jobs to applicants aged 40 and older — from hosts and bartenders to servers and server assistants.

The class-action suit covered individuals who had applied between 2007 and 2014 and claimed they were unfairly rejected based solely on their age. The EEOC argued that these weren't isolated incidents — it was a hiring culture that sidelined older applicants in favor of younger faces out front. The case eventually ended in a mistrial, but Texas Roadhouse settled in 2017, choosing to avoid what could've been many more years in court.

The $12 million agreement wasn't just a payout. It sent a message. A chain known for line-dancing servers and a loud atmosphere had suddenly become a cautionary tale for how not to handle hiring. Though it might've been the most popular chain during the COVID-19 pandemic, its legal troubles with the EEOC were happening behind the scenes.

As part of the 2017 settlement, Texas Roadhouse agreed to more than just cutting a check. As part of the agreement, Texas Roadhouse committed to revising its recruiting practices, training hiring managers on anti-discrimination policies, and turning over application data to a third-party monitor. The changes weren't isolated to a few stores. They applied nationwide, and for a chain with hundreds of restaurants, the compliance burden alone was significant.

The $12 million was used to create a claims fund for individuals over 40 who were denied front-of-house roles during the seven-year window. The company maintained that the settlement was a business decision, not an admission of guilt. "We still faced a prospect of many more years of legal bills, trials, and appeals," company spokesperson Travis Doster said at the time. "With that in mind, we felt it was in everyone's best interest to settle this and move on." (Per Nation's Restaurant News.)

It wasn't the last time the chain faced legal scrutiny. Throughout the history of Texas Roadhouse, the company has also faced other lawsuits, including a claim involving a manager allegedly harassing a breastfeeding mother, and multiple slip-and-fall cases tied to the restaurant's floor-scattered peanuts — the same iconic Texas Roadhouse peanuts rumored to have been discontinued. None matched the scope of the EEOC lawsuit, but they've kept the chain's legal team busy.