2013
Popular California restaurant sued for discrimination
Working in a high-end restaurant that caters to the elite A-listers in California can be an exciting and challenging experience. Many restaurant owners and managers will do just about anything to please their customers and make sure they are happy, but the same cannot always be said about how owners treat their staff.
Recently, a woman filed a lawsuit against her former employer, a popular restaurant in Hollywood, accusing the eatery of harassment and discrimination. She worked as a chef at the restaurant for less than a month before she could no longer take the verbal abuse and mistreatment she was subjected to, and ultimately quit. However, she wants to make sure that the restaurant does not get away with allowing workers to be put in this position.
According to reports, the woman was the only gay and African-American person working in the kitchen at the time. Because of this, she faced constant harassment based on her sexual orientation and race by other workers in the kitchen. She reported the situation to the human resources representatives at the restaurant, but that only made things worse, the woman says. Not only did the harassment continue without penalty, but it got worse and she found herself working in a hostile environment.
This woman is not the only person who has experienced harassment and discrimination while working in a restaurant. In fact, about 37 percent of the sexual harassment lawsuits that were filed in 2011 involved workers in the restaurant and food industry.
There are certain industries that see an increased occurrence of unfair employment practices. From discrimination to unpaid overtime to denial of medical leave, workers in some industries are confronted with these issues on a much more frequent basis. In the event that a person feels as though he or she is being treated unfairly, it may be appropriate to take legal action against an employer.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Keyon Wilson Sues Cleo Restaurant Over Alleged Anti-Gay, Racist Discrimination,” Anna Almendrala, Feb. 22, 2013
