US chefs to pay $600,000 over sexual harassment

New York: US celebrity chefs Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich agreed to pay $600,000 in a settlement to 20 former employees over sexual harassment allegations, the New York Attorney General said on Saturday.

A four-year investigation launched after accusations of sexual harassment were leveled against Batali concluded that "more than 20 employees were subjected to a hostile work environment in which female and male employees were sexually harassed by Batali, restaurant managers and other coworkers," said a statement from the attorney general’s office.