A black man has sued a Pennsylvania Panera Bread franchise claiming that the company wanted him far away from customers, and in the back of the store cleaning or preparing food.
In the Panera Bread discrimination lawsuit, the employee, 21-year-old Guy Vines, says that store had a policy to keep black, ugly, and fat employees away from public view, reports NBC.
Guy Vines worked at the Panera Bread franchise in Mount Lebanon for about two years before he eventually quit, citing the discrimination that he had to endure, reports NBC. During his time at the upscale fast food chain, Vines contends that he would be moved to the back of the store whenever local or district managers visited the store, and that black employees were routinely assigned tasks that would hide them from customers.
Ohio-based Covelli Enterprises which operates almost 200 Panera bread restaurants, has been named the defendant in the lawsuit. Panera Bread is not a defendant in the case.
As you probably know, it is illegal to make job decisions based on race. This means that employers cannot openly have a discriminatory policy to keep black employees in the back of the store. Additionally, employers cannot utilize more subtle tactics like only hiring whites or only promoting whites.
For its part, Covelli Enterprises is denying all the charges in the Panera Bread discrimination lawsuit and says that Vines walked off the job after he was disciplined for violating the company's dress code. Whether Vines walked off the job or not may have no bearing on the case if it is determined that the franchise had the discriminatory policy in place.
Related Resources:
- Find a Philadelphia Employment Attorney (FindLaw)
- Panera Bread Faces Second Racial Bias Lawsuit (FindLaw)
- Employee Rights: Racial Discrimination (FindLaw)
- Cracker Barrel, EEOC Agree to Mediate Discrimination Claims (FindLaw's Philadelphia Employment Law News)
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