Photo by Maryland Route 5.

A group of Tabard Inn employees seeking a majority share in the business will hold a launch party for their campaign tonight.

The party for the Tabard Inn Employee Committee, which has expressed concern about recent firings, management changes, and harassment claims, will take place on the roof of the headquarters of the Service Employees International Union (1800 Massachusetts Avenue NW) from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The event will feature music from Luray’s Shannon Carey and DJ CosmoLog.

Employees of the historic Dupont Circle restaurant and hotel currently own 30 percent of the business under an employee stock ownership plan. After Tabard owner Fritzi Cohen made changes to the business, including firing her son as general manager and instating her boyfriend on the board, the Save the Tabard campaign was created so employees could gain majority ownership. They are raising funds so they can buy Cohen’s shares, although it’s unclear if she’s willing to sell them.

Four former Tabard employees also sued the Inn’s corporation, headed by Cohen, for harassment, breach of contract and employment discrimination, a move Save the Tabard organizer Carolyn DeWitt called a “last resort.”

“Allowing the kind of mistreatment of women and longtime employees alleged in these three claims was something that many employees and patrons could not continue to live with,” DeWitt said in a statement. “That’s not the Tabard that customers and employees have been loyal to all these years. We never wanted it to get to this point.”

Tickets, which cost $20, can be purchased here.