LOS ANGELES  -  An Anaheim-based restaurant chain has agreed to pay $625,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit and to operate under a federal consent decree, officials said.

Specialty Restaurants Corp., which owns and operates theme restaurants, agreed to provide periodic progress reports, to provide training on avoiding sexual harassment and to change its work atmosphere, Elizabeth Esparza-Cervantes, an attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday.

Based on a complaint from an employee at Monterey Hills Banquets in Monterey Park, the EEOC sued in September 2006, alleging the company allowed sexual harassment and punished workers who complained about it, Esparza-Cervantes said.

The lawsuit said supervisors and co-workers subjected female employees to inappropriate touching and indecent and offensive comments.

An investigation turned up other sexual harassment complaints at the company's restaurants in Texas and New Jersey, Esparza-Cervantes said.

Messages left with the Specialty Restaurants legal department on Wednesday afternoon were not immediately returned.

(AP)