Legal Question in Discrimination Law in California
discrimination at a restaurant- locked out during business hours
My family frequents a restaurant at least 2-3 times per week; spending a lot of money over past 4 years. Recently my husband and son went there during business hours 2:30 PM and one of the workers saw them parking directly in front of the restaurant. She promptly ran and locked the door, that my son went up to open and then turned off the ''OPEN'' sign that was lit up. (My husband is Middle Eastern and my son is 1/2 American and 1/2 Middle Eastern). They were baffled as to why this happened. They were humiliated as well. Then went somewhere else to eat. The next day my husband and son went back to the restaurant and asked the woman if she locked them out on purpose and she answered ''yes''. He asked why and she answered because you complained about the lettuce before. This worker did not receive a complaint from my husband regarding any lettuce. I believe they were discriminated against. This same person inquired of my husband (in past months) about his accent and he had mentioned that his accent was Middle Eastern. My husband filed a complaint with this franchise company and to date, no one has called him back to respond. Today is more than 10 days after he complained. Can someone help us?
4 Answers from Attorneys
Re: discrimination at a restaurant- locked out during business hours
It appears your family has been the unfortunate victims of discrimination based on their race/national origin. The Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits resturants from discriminating against customers based on their race and/or national origin. Your husband did the right thing by filing a complaint with the chain, however, he may also need to do the same with the local resturant.
You are welcome to contact our office or an attorney in your area if you wish to discuss further. I am terribly sorry that they had this experience.
Sincerely, Beth Mora
Re: discrimination at a restaurant- locked out during business hours
Some restaurants close between lunch and dinner, but this seems to still fall within the lunch period.
It appears that this employee needs training and/or discipline. The fact that the company has not done anything about it speaks volumes about their intentions.
Please feel free to contact me. If have successfully prosecuted a similar case against a small restaurant chain.
Re: discrimination at a restaurant- locked out during business hours
I would get a friend -- make sure the friend is someone who really knows how to shoot good videos -- stand nearby with a video camera and record all of this the next time it happens. Have some other Middle Eastern lookin people arrive at the restaurant 10-15 minutes later and get the restaurant employee on tape doing the same thing. Then take the tape to an attorney in your area -- most attorneys, myself included, would be glad to take a case like this -- and then to your local TV news station.
Re: discrimination at a restaurant- locked out during business hours
The other responses are ignoring that you have been in the restaurant numerous times without complaint or mistreatment. One incident, that you speculate was discrimintation, does not make a case. If you can show a pattern of illegal treatment based upon ethnic or national origin discrimination, backed up by witnesses, then you would have a case to pursue.
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