A white former employee of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel is suing her ex-employer, alleging her Chinese-American boss discriminated against her because of her race and called her a “dumb woman.”
Christina Clark maintains she was wrongfully fired in 2019 for complaining about her treatment. Her Los Angeles Superior Court suit against Biltmore owner M&C Hotel Interests Inc. and the former supervisor, Jimmy Wu, alleges racial, gender, age and marital discrimination as well as wrongful termination, retaliation, harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and various state Labor Code violations.
Clark seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit filed Friday. A Biltmore representative did not respond to a request for comment.
She is described in the lawsuit as a “white female, single mother who is over 40 years old” was hired at the downtown luxury hotel on Grand Avenue in November 2018 as director of revenue, the suit states. Immediately after her employment began, she witnessed and was subjected to “numerous and repeated instances of favoritism exhibited toward employees who were Asian or of Chinese ancestry, race and nationality,” the suit alleges.
Workers who were not Asian or of Chinese background were treated less favorably, passed up for promotion and advancement, reprimanded and disciplined more frequently, the suit states. Asian and Chinese employees were allowed more flexibility in their schedules and were also permitted to take lunches and breaks as they pleased, according to the suit.
Wu, Clark’s supervisor, referred to her as a “dumb woman,” a “stupid woman” and an “incompetent woman,” the suit states.
Wu did not use such negative terms when talking about men, whom he favored over women, the suit states. When angry, Wu slammed tables, became red-faced, yelled, clenched his fists and insulted and belittled non-Asian women who worked for him for small mistakes like being late for meetings, the suit states. He did not display the same temper toward Asian and Chinese employees, or toward men, according to the suit.
Wu forced Clark and other non-Asian women to stand in corners `like misbehaving kindergarteners” and would forbid them from sitting in order to demean or punish them, the suit states.
The Biltmore’s human resources department staff acknowledged the issues Clark had with Wu, but nothing was done, the suit states. Clark was fired on Jan. 30, 2019, allegedly due to her complaints about harassment and discrimination and for her criticisms of preferential treatment given to Asian guests, including discount rates and free parking and breakfasts.