African American Employee Told He Will Be Terminated Because “It’s Too Dark in the Kitchen.”

David ManesLawsuits & Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Employee Files Lawsuit against Blush Nightclub for Race Discrimination

Gregory’s old boss at Blush Nightclub contacted him and offered him his previous position of assistant kitchen manager for $30k per year. Although previously terminated from this position, Gregory accepted the job offer and hoped for better. But within days of starting, he found out from other coworkers that the true reason behind his first termination was his skin color.

Gregory noted that his boss made harassing comments to him, even promising that Gregory would be fired soon because the owner wanted to hire more white employees because “it’s too dark in the kitchen.”Gregory noted that his boss made harassing comments to him, even promising that Gregory would be fired soon because the owner wanted to hire more white employees because “it’s too dark in the kitchen.” Other coworkers allegedly called him “Blackie” and “Darkie.” Gregory just did his job.

On the first payday, Gregory didn’t receive his paycheck. When he did receive a payment, Gregory shared that, by his calculations, he was paid $1.50 less per hour than he was quoted upon hiring. He also didn’t receive a paystub. So Gregory shared how he contacted management, who promised to correct the problem. But when the second payday came around, Gregory met the same problem. Allegedly, management promised to fix the problem, but they never did.

Gregory claimed that his manager came to him and said that he was going to be fired for complaining about his pay so much. The next day, Gregory found out from the boss that he was terminated due to “customer complaints.” The manager, also in the room, exclaimed, “Why did you say that, I wanted to let him go because of him complaining about his rate.”

According to Gregory, his manager pulled him aside on the day he was fired and told Gregory that he had been falsely reprimanded so that “it would look good for the unemployment case.” Gregory suffered termination twice from Blush Nightclub, and he believes that it was due to race discrimination. As a client of KM&A, Gregory is fighting for his employment rights. KM&A challenges employers who discriminate against employees like Gregory.

 

Full text of this complaint, as filed with the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, is available at docket no: 2:17-cv-01492-CRE

Kraemer, Manes & Associates LLC is an employment law firm with principal offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, serving all counties in Pennsylvania, focusing on employment law, business law, litigation, and civil issues. KM&A clients include employees, small businesses, parties in litigation, and people with a variety of legal issues.

For more information about this case, contact Attorney Sean Ruppert at 412-626-5550 or at sr@lawkm.com.

NOTICE: All information contained in this statement comes from the Complaint which has been filed as a public record with the court. As dedicated civil rights attorneys, we strongly believe in the public value of telling our clients’ stories: violators can be held accountable, and other silent victims can feel empowered to stand up for their legal rights. Although we make every attempt to verify our clients’ claims, note that the defendant is expected to oppose our client’s position, and the court has not ruled one way or the other as of the date of this statement.