Roscoe’s House of
Chicken and Waffles is a restaurant known for its famous home-style cooking of
chicken and waffles. Roscoe's has maintained a respectable reputation since it
was founded by Herb Hudson from Harlem, in 1975.
This reputation was put to question when a Southern
California jury awarded a former African American employee, by the name of
Daniel Beasley, about $1.6 million in punitive damages on the basis of
discrimination in the workplace.
This may come as surprise to many as the owner of Roscoe’s
House of Chicken and Waffles is same the ethnicity as employee Daniel Beasley.
Mr. Beasley stated that he expressed his complaints to the human resources
department, as well as to the company’s owner, yet nothing was done to resolve
the matter.
The ethnicity of the management of this particular Roscoe’s
branch was Hispanic. Mr. Beasley reported he received racial discrimination in the
workplace, through harassment and taking a backseat to other employees’
schedules.
Mr. Beasley believed he was doing the right thing by
bringing these injustices to his employer, but instead he was fired. The
termination of Daniel Beasley’s employment left him homeless and helpless
because he tried to make right of his situation.
Mr. Beasley was represented
by plaintiff attorney Scott Cummings who spearheaded this wrongful termination case and did not stop until he saw results. Daniel Beasley and
Scott Cummings made big headway in terms of standing up to discrimination in
the face of a big restaurant chain like Roscoe’s. The amount of money awarded
by the jury should be a reminder to those that think that racism or discrimination
has any place in this world.
Have you had a similar situation to that of Mr. Beasley? Did
you try to report discrimination taking place in your workplace that was happening
to yourself or an employee? Were you fired because you tried to take a stand?
If you have answered yes to any of these questions please click here immediately. 