Two former Anna's House managers are filing a federal discrimination lawsuit and civil rights complaint against the popular west Michigan-based restaurant franchise, claiming they were fired without warning on the basis of race and religion.

The suit alleges Anna's House owner and operator Josh Beckett fired former employees Alicia Dunlap and Aliou Diao without explanation after trying to enforce policies in a discriminatory manner and even asking one Muslim woman to remove her headscarf, or hijab, during working hours.

Both employees worked at the Westland location. They were fired on June 17, 2019, despite receiving positive reviews and performance feedback, according to the lawsuit.

Dunlap, a Hispanic and Christian woman, worked for the restaurant for nearly two years as manager. Diao, a Senegalese Muslim, worked as kitchen manager since December 2017.

“Anna’s House is aware of the lawsuit filed today. We have retained counsel and will defend against these claims in Court," Beckett said in a statement to the Free press. "Anna’s House has and continues to be a place that employs and serves people of all backgrounds and beliefs.”

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan, said at a news conference addressing the lawsuit that the term "culture" was weaponized against the two former employees.

"Southeastern Michigan is not a homogeneous region — this is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse regions in the entire state of Michigan," Walid said. "When we have situations like this, where we have people of color who are being blatantly discriminated against and double standards, this cannot be acceptable at all, but especially here in southeastern Michigan."

The lawsuit alleges Anna's House violated the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discriminatory acts on the basis of race, ethnicity and national origin. Dunlap and Diao seek reinstatement to their former positions or an equivalent, economic and emotional, and punitive damages as well as their legal expenses, according to the suit.

Anna's House, based in Grand Rapids, has eight locations across Michigan. It focuses on serving all-natural and healthy options.

Michael Pitt, who is representing Dunlap, said the situation at Anna's House that led to Dunlap and Diao's termination is the most outrageous case he has seen in his time as a civil rights attorney.

"Our two clients suffered the most horrific, undignified treatment at the hands of the owner of Anna's House — they were embarrassed, they were humiliated, they were victims of discrimination and I am so honored to represent them because they have the courage and the bravery to fight back," Pitt said.

No colored hair dyesor hijabs

According to the lawsuit, here is how the events unfolded:

The problems started after Beckett learned that two African American servers working for Dunlap had dyed red hair. He later texted Dunlap to remind her staff that colored hair dyes are prohibited by company policy.

Never having seen or heard of the policy beforehand, Dunlap protested enforcing it.

Dunlap alleges she then was pressured by Beckett and Chief Operating Officer Robert Newblatt to fire one of the two African American employees because she was "not the right fit" for the restaurant and "did not properly 'represent' the 'culture' of Anna's House," according to the lawsuit.

Dunlap believed the employee was targeted for her race and weight.

Dunlap later pushed back against Beckett after he asked her whether one of her employees wore a "jihad." She clarified he was referring to a hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women to show modesty.

Beckett later asked the employee, the stepdaughter of Diao, to take off the hijab during work hours.

"Everybody knows that jihad is not the proper term for the Muslim headscarf, it is hijab," said Amy Doukoure, attorney representing Diao with CAIR-Michigan. "Jihad is often a word that is weaponized against Muslims to create an environment and an atmosphere and to create the sense that Muslims are inherently nefarious to the fabric of America. His choice of words we don't believe was an accident."

Once again, Dunlap refused to follow through with Beckett's request, explaining the employee had the right to wear it, according to the lawsuit. Beckett allegedly later directed other managers to not hire anyone who wore a hijab.

Once Beckett found out it was Diao's daughter wearing the hijab, he began to inquire whether Diao prayed while at work.

Diao, who prays five times a day as a practicing Muslim, has a sign on his door asking employees to find another manager if they see him praying as he often prays in his office during work hours.

Shortly thereafter, Beckett said he was considering "purging Westland."

Diao was called in on his day off and fired.

The suit alleges Beckett has openly taken a discriminatory stance against Muslims, the LGBTQ community and Hispanics on social media platforms, citing tweets such as, "Our way of life is under threat by Radical Islam.." and "A nation without borders is not a nation at all. We WILL Make America Safe Again! #AmericaFirst!" Attempts by the Free Press to find the tweets were unsuccessful.

Recent history of controversy

The lawsuit is not the first time the local vegan restaurant chain has received this type of attention. The restaurant took some heat in August 2019 when it came out it donated an extensive amount of money to President Donald Trump's reelection campaign.

A screenshot from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show an entity named Anna's House Corporate LLC contributed $5,600 directly to the campaign as well as another $15,000 indirectly through a PAC named "Trump Victory."

"I am proud to live in a country where we are free to have different opinions and to support a candidate of our choice," Beckett said afterward in a statement to the Free Press. "Embracing (our) differences and respecting each other despite them is what makes our country great."

Just days after, the business drew support from customers after the donations came under fire. About 45 supporters came out to a breakfast event at the restaurant's Plainfield location Aug. 13, encouraged to wear Trump attire to the event.

Doukoure said they believe there are more employees who were fired on the basis of race and religion around the same time as Dunlap and Diao and encourages those with similar stories to reach out.

"We do believe that it is chain-wide and there is information that people who did not fall in line with the ideology of creating this white, homogeneous culture inside of Anna's House were all terminated. We believe that all of the managerial staff that had minority or religious roots other than being white Christians were summarily terminated around the same time."

Free Press staff reporter Andrea Perez Balderrama contributed to this report.

Meredith Spelbring is a news intern with the Detroit Free Press. Reach her at mspelbring@freepress.com or on Twitter @mere0415.