Lawsuit: Detroit Foundation Hotel is racist toward black workers

The Detroit Foundation Hotel, a onetime fire station that is now one of downtown’s hottest and trendiest night spots, has been hit with a federal lawsuit alleging racist behavior of all sorts, including banning some black employees from attending an anniversary party because they are “not polished,” “dirty” and shouldn’t “mix in with our VIP guests.”

“This case concerns racist behaviors and practices exhibited by high-level management at one of the city of Detroit’s well-known hotels,” reads the opening line of the lawsuit, filed Tuesday by a former human resource coordinator who says she “had a bird’s-eye view of the rampant racism within the supervisory staff of Detroit Foundation Hotel.”

The plaintiff is Twana Simmons, who says she repeatedly complained about racism faced by black hotel employees, but that management “made excuses for the racist behaviors,” ignored her complaints and “ordered her to stop making complaints about racism because … ‘no one here is racist.‘ “

Simmons, who was hired when the hotel first opened in 2017, was ultimately fired in the summer of 2018 on accusations of using a hotel podcast studio without permission. She said she had permission, and that she was really fired for complaining about racism at the hotel, also home to The Apparatus Room, which ranked as the No. 1 visited bar in Detroit in 2018 in an annual Lyft survey of the most popular destinations in 45 U.S. cities, and The Chef’s Table, the 2018 Detroit Free Press Restaurant of the Year.

The former fire station also played a boxing gym in Hugh Jackman's "Real Steel."

Specifics of the lawsuit

According to the lawsuit, here is some of the alleged racist behavior Simmons says she witnessed at this firehouse-turned-boutique hotel:

Simmons was participating in a January 2018 meeting where a high-level manager looked up pictures of job applicants on the internet — she was looking for a director of lifestyles — and rejected black employees for the job, commenting “they were ‘too dark.' "

At that same January 2018 meeting, Simmons heard the same hiring manager say she wanted to hire a “white brunette” for the lifestyles position.

In February 2018, Simmons participated in another meeting where managers were discussing the hotel’s one-year anniversary party. One manager “stated during the meeting that she did not want the employees of the hotel to attend the party because they are ‘not polished … they are dirty’ and that she did not want them to ‘mix in with our VIP guests.’ “

In May 2018, Simmons discussed with the hotel’s human resource director a request by black employees to attend a Chicago business trip, but the manager “refused to consider any black employees for the venture.” When Simmons said this seemed racist, the human resource director “became visibly agitated by the conversation. She told (Simmons) not to say things like that because she is not racist (and) reminded (her) that she dates black guys and that she hates when people say the company is racist."

On Wednesday, the Detroit Foundation Hotel issued this statement:

"Management takes the allegations seriously. Foundation Hotel is an equal opportunity employer and works to create a dynamic environment for all employees and guests. While we are in active litigation, we can say we deny the allegations in this lawsuit.”

Cleveland attorney Martin Wymer, who is representing the hotel, was not available for comment.

According to the lawsuit, Simmons started working at the hotel in April 2017. She was hired as a reservations agent right when the hotel opened and was promoted to Human Resources Coordinator within a month.

According to the lawsuit, Simmons often complained to her boss — a human resource director who no longer works there — about racist behavior, but was instructed to stay quiet. For example, Simmons says when she complained about the “white brunette” comment, her boss acknowledged that the “comments were racist” but claimed that the manager who said it was not a racist and told Simmons not to complain because the manager at issue “was well liked by the owners of the company.”

After that meeting, Simmons said she was excluded from further meetings discussing the position of Director of Lifestyles.

Related content:

Downtown Detroit's new Shinola Hotel offers competitive hotel rates

Deaf couple: Delta Air Lines agent discriminated against us

Simmons also spoke up at the meeting about the anniversary party, where rank-and-file hotel employees were labeled as “dirty” and not suitable for the party. Simmons and another employee became very upset at the comments and said they felt they were racist.

After the meeting, the lawsuit states, the human resource director “chastised” Simmons for speaking up about the anniversary party, and stated that the manager who made the comments “is not racist even though it seemed that way.”

Podcast leads to termination

Over time, as Simmons became aware that the hotel was developing a “negative image within the area of being racist,” she decided to conduct a podcast in a hotel studio that’s available for public use, the lawsuit states. She wanted to use the podcast “in part .. to help improve the image of the hotel. The hotel had an image that it was not welcoming to black patrons,” the suit states.

In May 2018, Simmons reserved the podcast room and received a June 2018 date for use of the room. She informed management that she intended to use the studio to help improve the image of the hotel, and no one objected, the suit states.

But after Simmons accessed the podcast room, she was informed that she was being investigated because she accessed the room without seeking authorization from the human resource director or the general manager. At this meeting, she notified management that she would be filing a complaint with the EEOC because she felt the treatment she was experiencing was racist, the lawsuit states.

Soon after, she was fired.

On Aug. 20, 2018, Simmons filed a complaint with the EEOC, which granted her a right-to-sue letter the following month.

Her lawsuit names the hotel as a defendant, along with its General Manager Bob Lambert, who allegedly accused Simmons of “playing the race card” and defended the hotel’s decision to fire her to the staff, allegedly stating:

“When people play the race card, that’s a deflection of personal responsibility.”

Simmons believes Lambert was sending a message:

“This message from Lambert was loud and clear: Black employees should not complain about racist behaviors and statements, or else they will be fired.”

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @Tbaldas