Restaurant Chain Accused of Refusing to Hire More Black Employees

The Buffalo Wild Wings located in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport  is being accused of using discriminatory hiring practices from a former employee, Yolonda Jeter-King.  She claims that she was fired for complaining about the alleged racial discrimination. 

Jeter-King never had any problems with race discrimination until the new management, Phasenext Hospitality (a Texas-based company) came in. 

An anonymous employee recorded a conversation that took place between the employee and the store manager. When asked if the applicants for potential new hires were black, the anonymous employee replies “one of them is black, one of them is white.” The store manager then allegedly said “We have our quota of blacks here. Do you have anybody else here white or Mexican? Anything else, I’m all for it.” The employee then asked why they can’t hire black people and the store manager says “They kind of scare our guests you know? Because they are all white businessmen.”

Jeter-King was appalled when she heard the recording. Not only has the Atlanta Airport been rated number one for customer service, but she says she knows most of the businessmen that go in there. 

The CEO and president of Phasenext Hospitality says there is “no truth to what is being said.” She claims that her company does not discriminate and that 70 percent of the employees at the restaurant are indeed African-American. A full investigation by Phasenext Hospitality will begin soon. 

Do you think a company with 70% black employees can lose a discrimination lawsuit for not hiring blacks?

*image by Gereld Angeles, Flickr