$150k damages to waitress sexually assaulted by boss

A Queensland restaurant owner who sexually harassed and assaulted a waitress was ordered to pay $150,000 in damages.

Moosa Ebrahim-Goder, owner of King of Grill – which traded under the name Oishi Teppanyaki & Café – was ordered to pay $140,000 in general damages, $10,000 in aggravated damages, and legal costs for the sexual assault and harassment of an employee.

Queensland Industrial Relations Commission deputy president Catherine Hartigan said Ebrahim-Goder’s conduct was “predatory and engaged in for his own wanton gratification”.

“The fact that this conduct occurred to [the waitress] while she was at work and that the perpetrator of the conduct was her employer is an abuse of the power dichotomy and trust inherent in the employment relationship,” Hartigan said in her recent written reasons.

Ebrahim-Goder pleaded guilty and was convicted of one count of sexual assault. The restaurant has since been deregistered.

On the day of the assault, the waitress and Ebrahim-Goder were the only two rostered to complete a split shift, which included a two-hour break between the morning and dinner services.

The waitress said she intended to visit a friend during the break, but Ebrahim-Goder repeatedly requested she join him for a drink. She stayed because she was told by his wife that he was depressed.

Near the end of the break, Ebrahim-Goder said: “I know if you don’t want to do something you would say it … will you have sex with me?”

This proposition was the commencement of his sexual harassment.

About an hour later, Ebrahim-Goder placed his hands on the waitress’s buttocks and groin through her clothes.

After the patrons had left, and before the waitress was aware of it, Ebrahim-Goder locked the front and back doors of the restaurant. She only discovered this after Ebrahim-Goder forcefully kissed her.

Ebrahim-Goder then continued to sexually assault the waitress.

The waitress told the commission she feared for her safety and tried to stay calm, “thinking that if I do something I might get seriously hurt”.

Immediately after leaving the restaurant, the waitress confided in a friend. Family then arranged for a lawyer and police complaint.

Hartigan said the nature of the physical conduct constituting sexual harassment was a “significant consideration” to the award of general damages, particularly as it caused her “hurt, injury and humiliation”.

Aggravated damages were awarded because Ebrahim-Goder had locked the doors, preventing the waitress from leaving.

“[The waitress] was entitled to attend her workplace free from being sexually harassed. Instead, her employer subjected her to offensive, intimidating and humiliating conduct,” Hartigan said.

The case: JF v Oishi Teppanyaki & Café Pty Ltd & Anor [2025] QIRC 209.