Two Lawsuits for Race Discrimination
A local Philadelphia area chain restaurant hired two African-American employees over the course of three months and fired both of them shortly after hire, notably immediately after they complained of race discrimination. What’s notable in these two cases is that both employees had the same manager and both complained about similar discriminatory conduct engaged in by the same non-management employee.
Allegations of Wrongdoing:
In the first case, on December 3, 2024, the restaurant hired Abel, an African American male, who was supervised by the general manager, Nicole, and the shift manager, Joseph. Approximately two months into his employment, on February 14, 2025, a coworker (SC) called Abel n****r. Abel immediately objected to this slur to which SC replied “if you are feeling froggy, then jump bitch.” Prior to this incident, Abel alleged that SC routinely referred to other African American employees as “Black Man” and that he had heard her make other racially offensive remarks about another African American employee. Abel immediately complained to his shift manager, Joseph, about SC’s slur and asked that she be disciplined for her conduct, however rather than address the complaint, Joseph told Abel to “forget about it” and to just “ignore it.” Abel then asked that his complaint be escalated to the restaurant’s general manager Nicole, who allegedly did nothing to address C’s conduct. Two days after Abel complained about SC’s use of the offensive racial slur, he was terminated for not showing up to his shift. Abel further alleged that white employees routinely failed to show up for their shifts but were never disciplined for this misconduct, thus the stated reason for his termination was pretext for retaliation or discrimination. Two days after his termination, Abel contacted the restaurant’s Operations Manager (OM) to alert him of the events discussed above and although the OM intially promised to investigate the matter, Abel never heard back from him. To add insult to injury, the restaurant did not pay Abel for 30 hours worked in the weeks prior to his termination. Abel filed a complaint in federal court alleging race discrimination, retaliation, violation of the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act and violation of the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law.
In the second case, on March 11, 2025, Alaya, an African American female began working for the restaurant and was also supervised by the General Manager, Nicole. Nicole asked Alaya to shadow and train with SC (the alleged wrongdoer from the Abel case). Allegedly, SC behaved in a hostile and adversarial manner with Alaya but did not do so with her white coworkers. This hostility included using a demeaning tone, constant yelling, cursing at Alaya and calling her “shit” or “shitty.” When Alaya objected to SC about her conduct, SC responded “if you’re feeling froggy, then leap.” Alaya further alleged that the restaurant permitted its caucasian employees to cook and eat breakfast at the restaurant prior to starting their shifts but did not permit her to do the same. On March 13, 2025, just two days into her employment, Alaya contacted HR to complain about SC’s conduct and also requested a transfer to another chain restaurant with a more diverse workforce. On the same day, Alaya also complained to her general manager, Nicole, about SC’s race discrimination and also advised her that she wished to transfer to a more diverse restaurant. Nicole responded that no one had ever complained that SC or the employer was engaged in discriminnatory conduct. A few hours later, Nicole sent Alaya a text message terminating her employment because “training doesn’t seem to be working out and isn’t meeting our standards.” Alaya alleged that this stated reason was pretext for discrimination or retaliation because the restaurant had not raised any concerns about Alaya’s performance prior to her complaint.
In summary, we have two African-American employees who were terminated almost immediately after they complained about the same coworker’s discriminatory conduct to the same manager. The first employee worked there for two months, the second for two days. Regardless of the outcome of each case, this will cost the employer a substantial amount in legal fees alone and likely significantly raise their EPLI premiums and future retention amount, this amount does not include any settlement or judgment against them.
HR Compliance Analysis
In the course of assessing these complaints, I looked up the company’s HR Director (and sole HR employee) only to find she had been a long time manager for the restaurant had no HR experience other than recruiting and onboarding, yet she was promoted into a position where she was responsible for the company’s HR compliance function. Tasking an inexperienced person with your HR function is almost always a disaster in the making, as clearly happened here. Whatever the company saved by appointing this inexperienced internal hire to a senior HR position was likely minimal compared to the cost of defending these two lawsuits, settlement, future EPLI premium hikes, and unnecessary turnover.
See our HR tip on common red flags to watch out for in your senior HR personnel
If the allegations in the complaints are true, it appears that the employer failed to take the following actions:
They did not train their managers on recognizing complaints of discriminatory conduct (protected activity), and the importance of escalating them so HR can respond appropriately.
If the employer wanted their managers to address complaints of unlawful conduct, they did not train them on how to appropriately respond to such a complaint, and on immediate steps that must be taken upon receiving the complaint.
It appears that the company had a reporting policy of complain to your (untrained) manager or no reporting procedure at all for complaints of unlawful conduct, as Abel never complained to HR. For information on common policy mistakes see our HR tip on Employee Handbooks.
Neither the shift manager nor the general manager took action against SC, and even worse, the general manager falsely alleged that SC had never been the subject of any discrimination complaint even though both complaints came within thirty days of each other. In fact, the general manager, after being on notice that SC openly used a racial slur towards an African-American coworker, went on to assign her to train another African-American employee within a few short weeks.
The General Manager and Operations Manager appear to be oblivious to anti-retaliation protections for employees complaining of discriminatory conduct.
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Please Note: In CHRO’s HR Compliance Corner we discuss recent federal court filings for unlawful employment practices and discuss various solutions that could have prevented the complaint. In this section, we treat the complaint allegations as true simply for the purpose of discussion, but readers should realize that the defendant has various defenses they will raise that may entirely undermine the allegations of unlawful conduct in the complaint. Thus, our commentary should not be taken as endorsement of the plaintiff’s position, only as a point of reference for discussion. Neither CHRO nor its officers or employees, have any affiliation or relationship with either the plaintiff or the defendant in any case discussed.
