A pattern of discrimination against Latino workers at Haru Resturant has been alleged in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.
Haru is a chain of Japanese restaurants that employs 1,000 Hispanic employees as bussers and runners. According to the class action lawsuit, management refused to promote runner Richard Martinez to waiter even though he was more than qualified for the job, Martinez claims that it is common for managerial staff to promote non-Hispanic bussers and runners to waiters over their more experienced Hispanic counterparts. In addition to not being experiences, Martinez says some of the new hires were also not fluent in English. Furthermore, management would ask him to train new waiters because he was most knowledgeable about the menus. When Martinez complained about the discrimination, management retaliated by reducing the hours he worked.
Martinez is suing on behalf of all the Hispanic employees who have experienced discrimination in Haru Restaurants in the last three years. Attorneys for the workers seek to vindicate the civil rights of the Hispanic employees and recover economic and compensatory damages, under the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York City Human Rights Law, and the New York State Human Rights Law.
