EEOC Sues Florida Applebee’s Franchise for Race and Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Neighborhood Restaurant Partners Florida, LLC, doing business as Applebee’s, violated federal law by subjecting an employee to race and sexual orientation discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed Aug. 12. The EEOC charges that the Plant City, Fla., Applebee’s subjected a Black line cook to a hostile work environment based on his sexual orientation and race and retaliated against him for complaining, leading to his being forced out from his job.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the employee’s workplace was permeated with racial and homophobic slurs. In addition to using anti-gay and racist epithets, Applebee’s employees wore Confederate flag paraphernalia. When the line cook complained about the treatment, he was told to “ignore it,” and his hours were drastically cut, and he was forced to quit his job because of all this mistreatment.

The EEOC says such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed its suit (EEOC v. Neighborhood Restaurant Partners Florida, LLC, Case No. 8:21-cv-01931-VMC-JSS) in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

“Over one year ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia that the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply to individuals who are discriminated in the workplace based on their sexual orientation,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Robert E. Weisberg. “While the EEOC recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Bostock decision, this case demonstrates that the work is not over. The EEOC will aggressively investigate, and, if necessary, prosecute employers that violate the rights of their LGBTQ employees.”

Source: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Topics Lawsuits Florida