Jul. 11--Georges Perrier, the Philadelphia chef who led the vanguard of the city's restaurant renaissance three decades ago, was sued yesterday by two women who said they were regularly groped and propositioned by Perrier and other male employees at his Brasserie Perrier restaurant. 

The sexual-discrimination and -harassment lawsuits, filed in federal court in Philadelphia by Suzanne Moses, a former manager, and Sharon Patrick, a former hostess, describe a "hostile work environment" of unwanted touching, sexual propositions and lewd comments between late 1996 and June 2000 at the restaurant at 1619 Walnut St. 

The lawsuits also complain of similar conduct toward the women by other top Brasserie Perrier employees: general manager Joseph Amrani, head chef Christopher Scarduzio, and director of operations Andre Guillet. 

Perrier yesterday issued a statement saying that Moses and Patrick both resigned from the restaurant "on their own terms and without raising any complaints." 

"We have vigorously defended our position before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the EEOC [U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] and will continue to do so in federal court." 

Federal law requires that the state agency and EEOC review workplace discrimination and harassment complaints before a federal lawsuit is filed. The agencies' determinations are then filed with the suit. 

In their response to the complaints before the human-relations panel and the EEOC, Perrier and his employees maintained that the women were not subjected to incidents of sexual harassment or sex discrimination. 

According to documents filed with the two lawsuits, both agencies determined that the women's sex-harassment complaints were validated by evidence that included corroboration from other female workers at the restaurant. 

The EEOC's June 14 determination, however, found that Moses was not denied a promotion or fired because of gender. 

Stephen G. Console and Gianna M. Karapelou, the Center City lawyers who filed the suits, said that neither Moses, of Mount Laurel, nor Patrick, of Laurel Springs, both in South Jersey, would comment at this time on the suit, which seeks unspecified money damages. Console said that both women were "extremely pleased by the investigations and findings of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the EEOC." 

In the last few years, Perrier, of Haverford, has experienced a spate of personal misfortune: mashing several fingers in a food processor and breaking both heels in a fall four weeks ago. 

But yesterday's lawsuits were the first clouds to obscure a stellar professional reputation that began 30 years ago with Le Bec-Fin, the city's first world-class five-star classical French restaurant, continued four years ago with the opening of the contemporary Brasserie Perrier, and expanded again in November with his informal suburban outpost, Le Mas Perrier in Wayne. 

Perrier has developed an international reputation while remaining accessible locally through cooking demonstrations and personal appearances. 

In February, for example, both he and Guillet, who is also a Roman Catholic deacon, spoke at a Center City seminar on "Spirituality in the Workplace." 

Moses' lawsuit contends that in response to her complaints about male conduct at the restaurant, she was passed over for the position of general manager in November 1999 and was fired Jan. 29, 2000. 

The firing, Moses' suit says, was "without cause" and immediately followed the resignation of her boyfriend, then-head chef Francesco Martorella, "to pursue other opportunities." 

Patrick's lawsuit says that she was hired in January 1997 as a hostess at the restaurant and that the purported sexual harassment was so bad that she was forced to leave June 2, 2000. 

Both suits described a series of propositions and groping at the Brasserie. 

Moses' lawsuit, for example, contends that in July 1999, Perrier came up behind her and grabbed both breasts. 

Her suit also claims that in December 1999, Scarduzio grabbed her crotch as she knelt under a restaurant bar and then bragged about it in lewd terms to other employees. 

Patrick's lawsuit refers to a series of unwelcome sexual advances, including a purported July 14, 1999, incident in which she says Perrier came up behind her, touched her buttocks, and suggested a sex act. 

In another purported incident last year, Patrick's suit continues, Amrani grabbed her breast and also offered a $4-an-hour raise if she would perform a specific sex act. 

When she refused, the suit continues, Patrick never received an expected $2-an-hour raise. 

Patrick's suit also maintains that Scarduzio on several occasions early last year put his hand up her skirt and grabbed her crotch, pinched her buttocks, and grabbed her breasts. 

The women said they rebuffed the advances. 

Both lawsuits also describe a holiday party in January 2000 for employees and their families at which Perrier brought in a stripper to perform for Guillet's birthday. The stripper also simulated sex acts with both men, the suit alleges. 

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