Southern fast-food restaurant Bojangles is accused of having racist practices, according to a former employee.
Roslyn McManus has accused the North Carolina-based franchise of “unlawful employment practice” in a lawsuit. The 54-year-old Black woman, whom the company hired in December 2019, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on Feb. 1. The lawsuit accuses Bojangles of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and detailed several incidents she alleges she experienced during her time working at the restaurant chain.
According to the complaint, shortly after McManus started training, either in January or February of 2020, someone wrote “Support Trump 2020” in flour on a biscuit table. McManus believes the incident was racist because of “President Trump’s polarization and, at times, perceived racial insensitivity, particularly regarding issues involving racial protests.”
The complaint continued, “Moreover, some individuals who supported President Trump in 2020 were also associated with extremist or white supremacist groups.”
In the
complaint, McManus alleges that during this same time period, Robert Yonyetye, a senior director of field training, would only speak to white employees whenever he visited the store where she was training. Once McManus graduated from the training and was assigned to another store, she says Bojangles management reneged on a promise they allegedly made to her when she was hired. According to her complaint, the company pledged to offer her a promotion from assistant general manager to general manager as soon as the opportunity presented itself.However, once these positions opened up, they were filled by white candidates. Eventually, McManus received the promotion she sought, but according to her complaint, the store she was placed in put her in a position to hear racist remarks regularly. According to the complaint, Katie Murry, the white area director, “committed racially derogatory acts and made several racially derogatory comments towards African American employees.”
Murry was accused of making monkey noises and gestures around a Black employee, referring to Black managers as dumb, and only making derogatory comments about Black employees who were overweight.
In May 2021, McManus sent a letter to the new area director, Zachary Caines, saying she intended to resign after working at the location for five months, where she averaged 80 hours a week while receiving no overtime pay past 50 hours. Caines promised to get her help if she did not resign, and McManus rescinded her resignation. Two months later, she reported two years’ worth of racist incidents to the company’s Human Resources Department, and the report was shared with Caines.
According to her complaint, Caines and another manager read her report and laughed in the restaurant. Later that day, she received an email notifying her that her upcoming shifts had been deleted, essentially firing her. McManus claimed Caines was culpable for her termination.
In September 2020, Mother Jones talked to employees of companies who had quit since January 2020.
One former Bojangles employee, Keisha Tibbs, shared a story that seemed to indicate that the company has a deeply embedded culture of excusing or tacitly endorsing racism. After a group of customers called Tibbs a “Black bitch” and spat in her direction, her unit manager told Tibbs not to worry about it and to keep working.Tibbs also alleged the manager directed the group to the front of the restaurant and said they could have whatever they wanted. She later quit.
Tibbs told the outlet that the incident led to an exodus of employees from that particular location. “I immediately left. That was my last day actually employed with Bojangles. Seven employees quit after I did. One of the managers and another employee walked out that day. The rest of the employees started leaving within that same week.”
In December 2023, Bojangles settled a suit brought by the EEOC, which alleged that the company engaged in sexual harassment and retaliation against the
employee after she reported the incidents. The company agreed to pay $20,000 to the employee and institute various trainings on consent, sexual harassment, and retaliation in select restaurant locations. Bojangles also agreed not to rehire the manager who committed the sexual harassment.Melinda C. Dugas, a regional attorney for the Charlotte District, emphasized the right of employees to work in an environment free from sexual harassment. “Employees have a right to be free from sexual harassment in the workplace,” Dugas said. “Employers cannot tolerate such conduct or allow managers to retaliate against employees for reporting the harassment.”
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