CHARLOTTE — A North Carolina barbecue restaurant is facing a lawsuit from the federal government, alleging it did not attempt to stop a black employee from being subjected to racial slurs and harassment by another employee.
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Joe's Old Fashioned Bar-B-Que Inc., doing business as Lancaster's BBQ & Wings, allowed a co-worker to repeatedly make racist remarks to a black employee. The racial harassment, which included the use of the "N-word," and the throwing of hot BBQ sauce on the black employee, went on in front of management, the EEOC said. The EEOC also alleges the company violated federal law when it failed to keep personnel records for the required time period.
"Employers must take appropriate action to stop employees' use of racial slurs in the workplace," EEOC Charlotte District Office regional attorney Lynette Barnes said in a statement. "The EEOC takes a company's disregard for the federally protected rights of its employees very seriously and will prosecute cases where this kind of abuse occurs."
The EEOC seeks back pay, compensatory and punitive damages as injunctive relief.