from Palm Beach Post: Seven men of Middle Eastern descent have sued a South Florida Denny’s restaurant franchisee and one of its managers for $28 million, saying they were kicked out because of their ancestry and compared to Osama Bin Laden.
The men, who are all U.S. citizens, are seeking $4 million each from Restaurant Collection Inc., which owns the Denny’s franchise, and shift manager Eduardo Ascano, whom they say compared them to the Al-Qaida terrorist leader.
Denny’s restaurants have long been the targets of discrimination lawsuits across the country.
The 1,600-restaurant chain, which has annual sales that exceed $2 billion, settled a 1994 lawsuit for $54.4 million that accused the chain of asking blacks to prepay for meals. Since then, it has faced at least six more discrimination lawsuits filed by African-Americans and Hispanics and has been investigated in at least two cases involving discrimination against people of Middle Eastern descent.
Debbie Atkins, a spokeswoman at Denny’s Spartanburg, S.C., headquarters said Thursday that the company stands by the independent investigation that cleared Restaurant Collection, but reiterated “we have zero tolerance for discrimination.” She said the company has instituted several diversity and anti-discrimination programs in recent years.
“We are a very different company” compared to a decade ago when it was facing the earlier discrimination charges, Atkins said.
