Restaurant fired worker after she reported ‘barrage’ of racist abuse, Georgia suit says
A food runner faced a “near constant barrage” of racist abuse while employed at a popular Georgia restaurant — and was fired when she complained, according to a federal lawsuit.
The suit, filed Tuesday, July 18, accuses The Flying Fish Bar and Grill in Savannah of having a hostile, discriminatory work environment and retaliating.
Known for its seafood and Southern fare, the Wilmington Island eatery has “the best of local traditional flavors in a relaxed atmosphere,” according to its website. The 43-year-old employee said what she experienced was far from that, however.
She began working at The Flying Fish on April 14 and was almost immediately subjected to racist taunts and insults from at least two colleagues, according to the lawsuit.
They called her anti-Black slurs and “little girl,” she said, often in front of fellow workers, customers and the restaurant’s co-owner. Still, the vitriol went unchecked, the complaint says.
“The facts here feel like 1963 not 2023,” Artur Davis, her attorney, said in a statement. “This kind of blatant and unrepentant racism is as cruel as it is illegal.”
The Flying Fish didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
‘We’re Black. ... We’re in the South’
As the restaurant’s sole Black female employee, the food runner said she complained to co-workers about the mistreatment more than a dozen times, the suit says.
They said they faced similar abuse and advised her to keep quiet, according to the complaint.
“Not a single one of (her) complaints produced results or correction,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, when she sought guidance from a newly hired Black manager at the restaurant, she was warned to stop complaining, because ‘we’re Black, and I don’t want you to lose your job. ... We’re in the South.’”
On one occasion, the lawsuit says the food runner was berated by a general manager when she asked for help delivering food to a large party: “You are the food runner … that is what we (expletive) hired you for! You (racial slur) … you need to listen!”
In a separate incident, the food runner asked to leave work after a server called her a racial slur and screamed that she was “doing stuff wrong,” according to the suit.
She took her grievances directly to the co-owner on April 29, asking him to do something about the hostile work environment, the complaint says.
She was let go the next day, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks back pay, front pay, loss of benefits and punitive damages, among other relief.
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