FRANCHISE OWNER DIDN’T LIKE PEOPLE OF COLOR
According to a press release issued on May 29, 2024, a Subway franchise, operating out of Fayetteville, North Carolina, has agreed to settle a race and color discrimination suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for $25,000.Apparently, the president and owner of the franchise, instructed a general manager to not hire Black employees, and to fire those who were Black (or appeared to be Black). He is also said to have engendered a “hostile work environment” for employees of color, by making “disparaging remarks and stereotyping them based on his own racial bias.” (The general manager was eventually forced to quit.)
Believing that such conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), the EEOC’s suit (Case No. 5:23-cv-00129-D-BM EEOC v. Bilal & Aaya Subway, Inc., H & F Subway Inc. and L & H Subway, Inc.) filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Western Division, seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief.
In addition to the $25,000 payment to the general manager (who resigned), the company has agreed to modify its employment-related policies and practices and will provide annual training on the employee protections afforded by federal law.
By way of a written statement, Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, noted that, “The EEOC’s goal with every resolution is to recover appropriate relief and to make sure that future employees do not encounter the same unlawful conduct …. We are confident that the relief secured through this consent decree will ensure that this discriminatory behavior will be corrected moving forward.”
Think that outcome has colored the owner’s perspective any?
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