Brian Thomas reports the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against the fast food chain, Whataburger, alleging racist hiring policies.

The lawsuit claims that upper management instructed managers to only hire white applicants, and a Florida manager refused to cooperate with the directive. The federal government maintains that upper management claimed it wanted “the faces behind the counter to match the customer base.”

From the EEOC’s website:

The restaurant manager was told to review the names on applications, identify those names that sounded white, and to interview only those applicants. After the restaurant manager opposed and refused to participate in the racially discriminatory hiring directive, she was subjected to an ongoing pattern of retaliatory conduct including verbal abuse, intimidation, threats, a drastic change in schedule, and unwarranted discipline. The retaliatory conduct ultimately forced the restaurant manager to resign from her position.

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Such a hiring policy would obviously violate the Civil Rights Act.

Whataburger denies the accusations, but a federal suit was filed on Monday. An investigation into the charges is ongoing.

According to Fox News, a Tallahassee, Florida Whataburger manager says she was met with “verbal abuse, intimidation, threats and unwarranted discipline” after refusing to cooperate with racist hiring policies. She says the abuse led to her resigning from her position.

Fox News reports:

Whataburger corporate denied the allegations in an email statement made to Fox News, and said the company had conducted a “thorough internal investigation.” “We did not retaliate against this employee nor did we ask her to use the alleged discriminatory hiring practices,” the company continued. “We value diversity on our teams and proudly employ Family Members of all races. Approximately 75 percent of our workforce identifies as non-white.”

District Director Michael Farrell of the EEOC’s Miami District said “Employees who oppose unlawful practices should feel secure in exercising that right.”

Robert E. Weisberg, a regional attorney for the EEOC said, “The EEOC takes retaliation complaints very seriously and will pursue them with the same intensity as any other kind of discrimination charge.”

USA Today identifies the employee who filed the complaint as Vanessa Burrous.

Though both Whataburger Restaurant, and a general manager, Johanna Risk, named in the complaint deny the allegations, the EEOC maintains that there was “reasonable cause,” and is currently investigating the situation.

USA Today reports:

“Ms. Burrous opposed and refused to participate in the racially discriminatory hiring directive to hire white — not black — applicants,” the lawsuit said. “Instead, Ms. Burrous continued to hire the most qualified applicants for vacant positions, regardless of race or color.” Whataburger denied the allegations Saturday in an email to the Tallahassee Democrat. The company issued another statement Tuesday. […] Around April 2015, Burrous conducted interviews of applicants and hired eight crew members, seven of whom were black. That “infuriated” Risk and intensified her anger against Burrous, leading to repeated reprimands against her, the EEOC’s lawsuit contends. About a month later, Burrous and Risk met with Misa Levin, the area manager over Tallahassee’s five Whataburger locations. Levin “angrily” told Burrous that Risk was not solely responsible for the discriminatory directive and that it was Levin herself who gave the directive based on pressure from upper management.

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