September 7, 2025
Roberta Mendez’s lawsuit claims coworkers referred to her as ‘nappy headed [N-word,] burnt biscuit,’ and ‘monkey.’
Cracker Barrel, the favored restaurant with the decor that hearkens again to the Previous South, is the topic of a federal lawsuit from former server Roberta Mendez, a Black lady, who’s accusing one of many firm’s Tennessee areas of wanting the opposite means relating to racist conduct and attitudes from fellow workers.
In accordance with The Impartial, Mendez’s lawsuit, which was filed on Aug. 21, levies accusations that her coworkers would seek advice from her as “nappy headed [N-word,] burnt biscuit,” and “monkey.”
The lawsuit got here through the firm dealing with drama over revamping its emblem, eradicating the “old-timer” in overalls. After dealing with backlash from conservatives who complained the corporate had gone “woke” with the transfer, the corporate reverted again to its outdated emblem.
Moreover, on not less than one event, a shift chief pointedly advised Mendez in 2024 “I don’t like Black individuals.” Mendez, who has labored on the Nashville-area institution since 2015, additionally says in her lawsuit that regardless of both assembly or exceeding the expectations in her efficiency evaluations, she was “handled much less favorably than her Caucasian counterparts who made derogatory feedback to [her] based mostly on her race,” throughout that very same time interval.
Among the many extra explosive claims, in addition to a well-recognized one regarding Cracker Barrel’s tradition within the lawsuit, is Mendez’s assertion that administration on the restaurant “segregated its Black staff from its Caucasian staff,” and when she introduced her issues to her superiors, as an alternative of disciplining the workers she advised the corporate was partaking in unsavory conduct in the direction of her, she was as an alternative written up.“
When Mendez escalated her issues to Human Sources, she was solely advised to not signal the write-up,” per the criticism, “No remedial motion was taken.”
In August 2024, after her working situations nonetheless had not improved, Mendez went additional up the chain of command and submitted a grievance to Cracker Barrel’s company division which detailed “her remedy and the remedy of different Black workers.”
Nonetheless, very like when she escalated her issues to the corporate’s HR division, Mendez was the one one held accountable. Regardless of doing nothing fallacious, she was fired the following month for what the corporate described as “breaking firm coverage,” whereas none of her white coworkers have been referred to as to account for his or her reported conduct.
Cracker Barrel has confronted discrimination lawsuits earlier than, in 2010, it settled a civil rights lawsuit introduced by the Division of Justice which alleged that the corporate “engaged in a sample or observe of denying to African-American prospects and potential prospects, on the premise of their race or coloration, the use and pleasure of the services, companies, and lodging of Cracker Barrel eating places on the identical foundation as they make such out there to non-African-American individuals.”
Additional again, in 2004, the corporate agreed to pay $8.7 million to settle all lawsuits introduced by the NAACP, lawsuits which indicated that the corporate engaged within the segregation of Black and white patrons, full with allegations that it served Black patrons meals that had been reclaimed from trash cans. In accordance with The African American Registry, the settlement is just like one other settlement it supplied to the Justice Division.
“That settlement discovered that Black prospects at lots of the nation store-themed eating places have been seated in areas segregated from white patrons, regularly obtained inferior service, and sometimes have been made to attend longer for tables. Blacks who complained about poor service additionally have been handled much less favorably than whites,” the African American Registry famous.
Representatives for Cracker Barrel, in the meantime, didn’t reply to a request for remark from The Impartial earlier than they ran their story.
In accordance with Kyle Biesecker, who alongside along with his co-counsel Rachel Ringer, are representing Mendez in her lawsuit in opposition to the corporate, the following step is for Cracker Barrel to formally reply to their lawsuit, which he believes will result in depositions.
“Subsequent, Cracker Barrel will file their reply to the criticism and discovery will proceed from there,” Biesecker advised The Impartial. “We anticipate depositions to bear out lots of the information as alleged by Ms. Mendez.”
Mendez is suing underneath Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal regulation that prohibits discrimination on the premise of race, intercourse, faith or nationwide origin, and the substance of her criticism revolves across the accusation that Cracker Barrel “subjected her to pervasive harassment on the premise of her race, created a hostile work surroundings, and terminated her employment… when she complained of racially disparaging feedback and conduct from her coworkers and supervisors.”
Mendez seeks reinstatement to her place at each the wage and seniority which she would have earned have been she not fired by the corporate, along with again pay, misplaced advantages, compensatory and punitive damages with curiosity, and a trial by jury, Mendez is requiring the corporate to cowl her courtroom prices and authorized charges if it loses in courtroom.
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