Whataburger pays $180,000 after EEOC suit says manager told her to hire only white folks
Whataburger will settle an EEOC lawsuit by paying lost wages, damages and legal fees to a former manager who said she refused to hire only white applicants at a Tallahassee store.
The lawsuit alleged that not only did Vanessa Burrous face retaliation for ignoring discriminatory orders from the store’s general manager, but Burrous was told by Whataburger’s area manager that the directive resulted from “upper management” pressure.
Burrous resigned after hearing that.
The suit-settling consent decree says the Texas-based chain will pay $5,000 in lost wages and $100,000 in damages to Burrous and $75,000 to the law office of Richard E. Johnson. Though the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit in Tallahassee federal court on behalf of Burrous, Johnson represented Burrous.
Whataburger has to conduct annual human resources training, reiterating that retaliatory behavior against someone who reports discrimination is illegal, and how to handle retaliation complaints.
As for the root discrimination alleged in the lawsuit, that doesn’t appear addressed in the consent decree.
In a Monday afternoon email, Whataburger said it settled the “protracted and exhausting legal matter purely as a business decision.” It denied Burrous was retaliated against and the accusations of discriminatory hiring philosophy in the lawsuit as “false, disappointing and completely counter to the culture Whataburger lives and breathes every day.”
The chain says during the time reference in the lawsuit, 81% of its hires in the Tallahassee area and 93% of the hires at Burrous’ store, 2511 Apalachee Pkwy., were African-American.
“Whataburger agreed to the terms of the Consent Decree in this case — in large part — because Whataburger already has in place most of what the Consent Decree requires,” the email said. “Among other requirements, and contrary to the Commission’s inference in its press release, Whataburger has for years maintained an anonymous hotline for employees to report concerns about their work environment, including potential discrimination, harassment or retaliation.”
According to the lawsuit, Johanna Risk, the general manager at the Apalachee Parkway Whataburger, began telling Burrous to hire only white people. This included Risk directing Burrous to interview only applicants whose names sounded white.
After seven of eight hires from a group of online applicants were African-American, the lawsuit said, “This infuriated Risk and intensified her anger towards Ms. Burrous. Risk repeatedly reprimanded Ms. Burrous for not obeying her racially discriminatory hiring directives.”
Burrous sought escape by transferring to another Whataburger in town. But, when she spoke with Area Director Misa Levin, the suit said, Levin told her Risk was following orders.
“...it was she (Levin) who gave the directive based upon pressure from “upper management,” the suit said. “Levin told Ms. Burrous that Whataburger’s ‘customer base is white and we want the faces behind the counter to match the customer base.’ Levin said she hoped the meeting would ‘put the fire out.’ She warned Ms. Burrous that if she complained further she would not be protecting the brand.”
Risk, the suit said, subjected Burrous to retaliatory acts such as verbal and emotional abuse, including ripping into her in front of customers and staff; getting employees to write nasty letters about Burrous; making her work overnight or work, without pay, on off days.
