Panera cafe boss: I made black man cashier, got fired

[SpartanDem]

Source: AP

A white man claims he was fired as manager of a suburban Panera Bread shop for repeatedly having a black man work the cash register instead of putting him in a less visible location and having "pretty young girls" be the cashiers.

Scott Donatelli contends in a federal lawsuit he was denied extra medical leave and was fired in September after double hip replacement surgery earlier this year. He claims the reason was that he bucked race-related personnel rules communicated to him by a district manager for Sam Covelli, a franchisee based in Warren, Ohio, about 80 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

Earlier this year, Donatelli says, the district manager told him, "It's what Sam wants and what our customers want. They would rather see pretty young girls" at the cash register.

The district manager also "told Donatelli he did not want African Americans working where the public could see them because: 'it's what the customers want,'" according to the eight-page complaint filed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.




Read more: http://www.detnews.com/article/20111103/NATION/111030476/1361/Panera-cafe-boss--I-made-black-man-cashier--got-fired

[ZombieHorde]

1. Every coffee shop/stand I visit has pretty young girls at the register.

I frequent about five different coffee places, including drive-up booths.

[unblock]

5. wasn't there a lawsuit about a guy wanting to wait tables at hooters?

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Maraya1969]

2. Panera is so up with the times I'm having a hard time believing this.

And besides you pretty much can see everyone work since the cooking is done outside of the back area. I suppose they made the breads in the back but the regular food is made on the side.

[jeff47]

28. It's a franchise. So what corporate does isn't necessarily what the franchisees do. (nt)

[unblock]

3. fascinating! here's a white who's demonstrably damaged by a work environment hostile to blacks!

[Scuba]

25. No good deed goes unpunished. n/t

[MADem]

4. Hmm. Double hip replacement surgery?

Could the manager have been fired, not for his workplace assignments, but because he was a drain on the health plan, I wonder?

Covelli spokesman Allen Ryan issued a one-paragraph statement saying the Ohio company "vigorously denies the allegations" in a copy of the lawsuit e-mailed to him by The Associated Press.

"Our company treats all employees the same, regardless of their race, sex, or national origin," the statement said. "Mr. Donatelli's termination was based strictly on his inability to return to work within the time frame set forth by the law. We look forward to showing his allegations as baseless as this case moves forward."

This will likely get more interesting as it unfolds.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. Yeah, How 'bout it.

We didn't fire him because of the Blakies, we fired him because he was disabled! Duh!

[MADem]

7. It was the first thing that crossed my mind after reading the article.

It'll all come out in court, though. The guy will have to prove that the regional supervisor said those things.

I have no idea what his Panera looks like, but the two I've been in are a single room, with a big long counter, workers on one side, tables on the other, and you can see everyone--cashiers, sandwich makers, bread slicers, what-have-you. You order in this line, pick up in that one.

I never noticed who was ringing up my order, to be honest. The places were pretty busy.

[Rabblevox]

8. I know some Panera folks. I think this story smells like BS. /nt

[stlsaxman]

18. I have family (sorta) that works there and MUST agree.

their "Panera Cares" stores where you pay what you can afford and much of the profit goes to food pantries makes me think that this couldn't possibly happen at a company of this quality.

but if the "franchisee" (who lives in Ohio) is pulling this racist bullshit, i would hope that it gets back to the holding company and they "dis-enfranchise" him.

[47of74]

22. Panera here in Iowa got in a bit of trouble

A non-profit sued them because the money that was put in those little spare change collection boxes wasn't making it to said non-profit. Panera was supposed to collect the money and present a check to the non-profit once a year - that apparently wasn't getting done.

Here's a link on the story - http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DQ&p_theme=dq&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=12D2FF0CEC6FBF68&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

I don't know what came of the lawsuit, but Panera doesn't have the little collection boxes anymore.

[Chan790]

24. It's a franchisee thing.

It probably has nothing to do with Panera and everything to do with the franchisee's own bigotry and POV.

On the other side of the coin, the owner/operator of the Chik-fil-A near my apartment is a openly-gay black man (I know him from the community, we're both active in volunteering and civic improvement)...and Chik-fil-A has a reputation for being super-evangelical, homophobic and racist in the policies of its' parent corporation.

The Starbucks I used to work at was managed by a hardcore evangelical misandrist white-supremacist who refused to hire minorities, fired the two she was foisted with within a month and promoted only two men in 5 years...both of whom she was sexually-harrassing. If that sounds like not the Starbucks Coffee Company you're familiar with that's because it's simply not in line with corporate ethics and eventually they fired her once a new regional manager took over and was horrified by her conduct. The previous RM thought she was hunky-dory.

The POVs of franchisees or individual regional managers rarely reflect those of the parent corporation. You'd think they would and logically-should...but they don't. Even when the conduct is abominable, it's rarely reported or acted upon.

[barbtries]

26. wow, now what do i do?!

just a couple days ago i decided to forego my breakfast at chik fil a because i read (on DU) that the founder or owner had spent over 2 million dollars trying to make sure that gays do not have the same civil rights as the rest of us.
okay. i got it, unless your friend is in NC the boycott stands.

[jeff47]

29. Even if you went to his friend's store, the parent company would still get some of the cash. (nt)

[Chan790]

31. Oh, I don't even eat there.

As I said, I know him from community involvement. The one time I stopped in there, it was for a free peach milkshake.

[K8-EEE]

9. My local (No Hollywood CA) Panera has a black cashier so

I don't think it's company policy even if the manager used that excuse -

[emcguffie]

14. Different franchise.

Sounds like it's the specific franchise owner who has these particular rules. Wouldn't necessarily be so for all Paneras.

[DCKit]

10. I just want the truth to come out. The rest is BS. nt

[sendero]

11. There is a Panera..

... in a just-bigger-than-podunk town near here and they certainly don't follow any such rules.

[qanda]

13. Come to think of it, I have NEVER seen a black person at the cash register at Panera

I live in the Baltimore area so that is a little strange. (Not saying this is the policy-- just my experience)

[Crowman1979]

15. Not true for the one in Montgomery, AL.

Because all of the cashiers there are black. This is probably some random franchise in a right-wing part of the country.

[Demstud]

17. It was allegedly a district manager's policy

So a chunk of stores here in Ohio.

[Odin2005]

16. Ugh, racism AND sexism in one nice little package.

:puke:

[chemp]

19. My local shop has a young black man as regular cashier

the only way I would accept this is if it is a local (district manager) rule.

If so, the DM should be fired. otherwise I call BS.

[bettydavis]

20. because you cannot be black...

AND a pretty young girl simultaneously right? Reminds me of that election time speak "Blacks and Women favor blank over blank" uhm hello? say what you mean. You mean white women and blacks. When they say "pretty young girls" they mean pretty young "not black" girls... oh Sojouner they still can't hear you...

[crim son]

21. Good, depressing point. n/t

[Leftist Agitator]

27. Very well said.

Welcome to DU.

:hi:

[JohnnyRingo]

23. I live very near Warren Ohio. I grew up here, and I believe this is absolutely true

I say that because he began his fortune owning McDonalds franchises here back in the '60s, and I know people who worked for him in the day.

My GF was sexually harassed by him at her counter job at Micky D's back in the day, and the stories she told me a few years ago are so close to these accusations I had to look at the name to see if this was her post. She even told me how he would hire blacks but make certain they were unseen by customers and always more than an arm's length away from the registers. She also told me how he insisted on pretty girls at the counter, and he would come in and harass them as a matter of his daily routine.

Now he's begun a new chain called "O'Charley's", and she refuses to go to the new restaurant he built here this year, referring to him as a piece of shit. I concur.

[silverlib]

30. I love the Panera Bread in South Austin...

A group of us were eating and hanging out way late as they were closing up. I went up to the counter as they were packing up breads and asked to buy a loaf. The black gentleman explained that he couldn't sell me anything, as it was 5 minutes passed close, but he could give me a loaf. He explained that everything pre-made is donated to local charities at closing time. So, I'm going with the franchise problem. Perhaps Panera needs to tighten up their franchise contracts to have a little more control>