A Black former Chipotle corporate manager sued the multinational fast-casual restaurant chain Monday, alleging she was treated in a demeaning and retaliatory way by a white boss, denied help from the CEO and other upper management members and ultimately fired for complaining.
” By way of this action, plaintiff seeks to hold Chipotle accountable for its illegal conduct, going all the way up to its CEO … so that Chipotle never treats another Black female employee the way it treated plaintiff again,” the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed by a plaintiff identified only as Jane Doe states.
The plaintiff’s allegations include racial and gender discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, negligent hiring, supervision and retention and defamation. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Chipotle representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Doe was hired as senior manager of corporate events in May 2024 and was initially eager to get started given her two decades of event-planning experience. She planned 10 corporate events before her termination and had four more scheduled.
However, during the first day she worked for her white supervisor, Doe was humiliated when requested to read out loud a draft newsletter about the Juneteenth holiday that generalized about food eaten by Black people in the U.S., the suit states. The boss then told Doe that her parents should be proud of her for getting so far in life while making the assumption that Doe’s family members were descendants of slaves, according to the suit.
Throughout Doe’s employment, the supervisor repeatedly made demeaning and racially offensive comments targeted at her as a Black woman, including that Doe would have to overcome such stereotypical assumptions as that Black women are lazy and unintelligent, the suit states.
The supervisor also made comments about the plaintiff’s breasts and told her that the company’s senior male executives would enjoy what she wore on given days, yet the boss also told the plaintiff to wear long jackets to cover her buttocks, the suit further states.
“I am the one who determines success for you,” the supervisor told Doe only and not non-Black female employees, the suit states.
Doe endured despite the boss’ alleged disparate treatment of her, earning praise from senior executives for successfully carrying out large events, the suit states. But Doe’s complaints to human resources and the chief of corporate affairs brought only limited results, and the supervisor began retaliating against her, telling the plaintiff that she wanted to be present whenever Doe spoke with vendors, the further states.
Doe was fired while on Chipotle’s holiday party in Ohio in December 2024 — where she had earlier been introduced to the gathering by the CEO — after being falsely accused of violating Chipotle’s expense reporting policy by failing to provide more information and also because she allegedly lacked professionalism and was intimidating with Chipotle’s partners, the plaintiff also says was untrue, the suit states.
When Doe contacted the CEO, who had once appeared sympathetic to her problems with her supervisor and invited her to reach out to him if necessary, he did not respond, in effect ratifying the boss’ conduct, the suit alleges.
“Plaintiff has suffered immense emotional trauma and significant wage loss as a result of defendants’ treatment of her,” the suit states.