A Black former Restaurant Depot cashier is suing the wholesale restaurant supply retailer, alleging she was discriminated against and wrongfully fired from the Baldwin Hills warehouse because she was overheard by a white customer telling another patron that she admires Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
Plaintiff Passion Schoolfield’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges wrongful termination, race discrimination, free speech violation under the state constitution, intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation. Schoolfield seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Restaurant Depot representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Wednesday.
Restaurant Depot is a membership-based wholesale supplier of produce, beverages and equipment to businesses that include bars and restaurants. Schoolfield was hired as a cashier last September at the company’s warehouse on Jefferson Boulevard and had an exceptional performance record, but her suit states that on Nov. 15, while discussing celebrities with customers in her line, one of the white patrons in another line overheard the plaintiff say, “I like Ye, he keeps it real.”
The white customer left his line and aggressively confronted Schoolfield, asking her several times, “You like Ye?,” according to the suit.
Schoolfield remained professional and did not answer the white customer, who then went to discuss his concerns with the store’s general manager, the suit states.
Moments later, Schoolfield was suspended and she was fired the next day, according to the suit, which further alleges that she has lost a significant amount of earnings and suffered emotional distress as a result of her discriminatory firing.