The federal government filed a lawsuit Friday against the fast-food chain Culver’s, claiming the restaurant illegally retaliated against a transgender manager and three employees.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lawsuit charges five related entities operating Culver’s locations in Michigan with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination against trans employees and protects employees against retaliation from employers.
Asher Lucas, a trans shift manager, was allegedly purposefully misgendered and harassed by two employees on multiple occasions. According to the lawsuit, three of Lucas’s coworkers witnessed the transphobia and reported the behavior to a Culver’s general manager. Nothing was done.
One employee, who was “openly hostile toward gay and transgender people,” was “emboldened” by the lack of action taken by management, the lawsuit claims. This employee found Lucas’s birth certificate, used it to continuously deadname him, and spread his personal information around the workplace.
Lucas and his coworkers went to management a second time to complain about the dangerous escalation in the harassment. Rather than investigate the offensive conduct of their employees, Culver’s fired Lucas and his three colleagues the day after they filed their second complaint, according to the EEOC.
“Employers must protect all employees, including transgender employees, from sex-based harassment at work,” Omar Weaver, assistant regional attorney in the EEOC’s Detroit office, said in a statement. “When employees complain of harassment, whether directed at them or witnessed by them, employers cannot fire those employees because of their complaints.”
Culver’s has not responded to the allegations.
EEOC first attempted to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process, but was unsuccessful. The lawsuit, EEOC v. Brik Enterprises, was filed October 25 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Culver’s franchises operate in 26 states and is widely popular in the Midwest. The chain restaurant originated in Wisconsin in 1984.
