In one of the latest stories about workplace discrimination, a Whataburger chain in Florida is being sued by a former manager after she was allegedly “retaliated against and forced to resign because she would not carry out racially discriminatory hiring practices as directed by higher-ups.”
In one of the latest stories about workplace discrimination, a Whataburger chain in Florida is being sued by a former manager after she was allegedly “retaliated against and forced to resign because she would not carry out racially discriminatory hiring practices as directed by higher-ups.”
The lawsuit itself was filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the woman, Vanessa Burrous, who originally filed a “complaint with the EEOC alleging Whataburger violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination because of race.” Even before the lawsuit was filed, the EEOC “found reasonable cause to believe Whataburger retaliated against her and caused her to quit.”
But what kind of racially discriminatory hiring practices did she refuse to follow? What kind of retaliation did Burrous experience? Well, according to the lawsuit, “Burrous, who is white, was pressured by the restaurant’s general manager to hire white employees but not black ones.” Additionally, Johanna Risk, her general manager, “directed her to review applications and only interview applicants who had white-sounding names.”
In the lawsuit filed in federal court, the EEOC said:
“Ms. Burrous opposed and refused to participate in the racially discriminatory hiring directive to hire white — not black — applicants. Instead, Ms. Burrous continued to hire the most qualified applicants for vacant positions, regardless of race or color.”
In terms of retaliation, Burrous claimed that back in early 2015, she oversaw open interviews and ended up hiring “eight crew members, seven of whom were black.” According to Burrous, “that infuriated Risk and intensified her anger against Burrous, leading to repeated reprimands against her.” Not long after, she met with the area manager who oversees all five of Tallahassee’s Whataburger locations, and was informed that “Risk was not solely responsible for the discriminatory directive and that it was Levin herself who gave the directive based on pressure from upper management.”
“Levin told Ms. Burrous that Whataburger’s ‘customer base is white and we want the faces behind the counter to match the customer base. Levin said she hoped the meeting would ‘put the fire out.’ She warned Ms. Burrous that if she complained further she would not be protecting the brand.”
In response to the lawsuit, Whataburger denied all allegations and issued the following statement [Editor’s note: Whataburger Corporate Communications contacted Legal Reader to update their statement as follows:
Based on our thorough internal investigation, we deny the allegations. We did not retaliate against this employee nor did we ask her to use the alleged discriminatory hiring practices. We value diversity on our teams and proudly employ Family Members of all races. Approximately 75% of our workforce identifies as non-white.
Sources:
Whataburger sued over alleged racial discrimination
Lawsuit: Whataburger ex-manager said she was told to hire white employees
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