The owner of a restaurant in New York state told a transgender cook he 'wasn't a real man' and asked about his genitalia, a federal agency claims

• Staff at a New York pizzeria, including its owners, repeatedly harassed a transgender cook, the EEOC claimed.
• Some workers equated being transgender to pedophilia, the EEOC said.
• The restaurant is paying the former cook $25,000 to settle the lawsuit.

A restaurant in New York is paying $25,000 to settle a sex-based harassment lawsuit after staff repeatedly harassed and misgendered a transgender cook and asked about his genitalia, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said.

The owners and staff at TC Wheelers Bar & Pizzeria in Tonawanda, near Buffalo, verbally harassed Quinn Gambino by making "crude and derogatory references to his transgender status," the EEOC said in a press release.