Chipotle Got Served A Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

An ex-employee at Chipotle Mexican Grill recently slapped the restaurant chain with racial discrimination charges. The suit, which has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that the employee was fired for complaining that her Latino co-workers were given preferential treatment by management and that a supervisor told her after she spoke out that “black girls always have an attitude.”

According to the lawsuit, the employee Sheqweshu Clark was employed at Chipotle’s El Segundo outlet in June 2012. She worked as a crew employee and was promoted several times. Her employment “continued without much incident” until she returned from maternity leave last December.

Upon her return Clark was working under a Latina district manager, when she and two other Latino managers began assigning Latino employees to more favorable day shifts, while the night duties were given to Clark and other black workers, the suit claims.

After other black workers spoke to her about the alleged disparate treatment, Clark asked to take up the issue with one of the male Latino managers, the suit states. “In response, (the manager) brushed off plaintiff and stated that ‘black girls always have an attitude,”‘ the suit alleges. This while ignoring any and all complaints and the alleged unfair treatment of black workers.

Offended by the remark, Clark says she spoke to the district manager about her discrimination allegations in January. The district manager denied there was a problem, but said she would set the employees’ schedules from then on, according to the plaintiff.

In January, Clark even spoke to the district manager, who denied that there was a problem, but said she would set the employees’ schedules from then on, according to the plaintiff. But but, the promise was soon followed by the district manager suspending Clark “without giving an explanation”, the suit states. Clark says she contacted Chipotle’s human resources department and voiced her discrimination complaints, but did not get a response.

In response to the lawsuit, Chipotle released a statement saying: “We only now received the suit and will evaluate its merits and determine a course of action. Generally speaking, however, a lawsuit is nothing more than a series of allegations and does not constitute proof of any wrongdoing on our part.”

2016 has been a flood of lawsuits for Chipotle. The chain is currently facing one, apart from the racial discrimination, for allegedly not having paid wages to thousand of current and former employees. And you thought you were having a bad year?

Source: My News LA

Feature Image: Huffington Post