Black Jack’s Family Restaurant Employee Was Told to ‘Let It Go’ After White Coworker Openly Used N-Word In Front of Customers Then Later Sent Racist Rhetoric In Staff Group Chat, Lawsuit Alleges

A former fast food worker alleged in a new lawsuit that while he was briefly employed at an Alabama restaurant, his co-workers openly used racial slurs and added him to a group chat where they exchanged white supremacist and Nazi propaganda.

Tevin Burrow filed the federal civil rights complaint on Feb. 25 against Jack’s Family Restaurants, an American fast food restaurant chain that operates hundreds of locations in the southeastern United States.

On May 31, 2023, Burrow was hired to work as a cashier at a Jack’s location in Warrior, Alabama, just north of Birmingham. He alleges in his complaint that his employment at the restaurant was marred by a racially hostile environment that he suffered on a near-daily basis.

For weeks after he was hired, Burrow, who is Black, reported hearing one of his white colleagues repeatedly use the N-word openly in front of other coworkers and Jack’s customers.

According to the suit obtained by Atlanta Black Star, Burrow asked that coworker not to use the slur, but the colleague refused, stating “he was not afraid of Burrow and profanely told him he would say whatever he wanted to.”

Burrow complained to his manager, Trent Miller, about the racist language, but Miller allegedly told Burrow to “let it go.”

At one point, Burrow was added to an online group chat where Jack’s staff would make their coworkers aware of scheduling and shift changes. However, some of the colleagues used the chat as an open forum to exchange “racist comments” and “white nationalist, Aryan nation verbiage symbols,” the complaint states.

The same coworker who openly used the N-word while at work reportedly sent images of Nazi swastikas and a “white power” skull image with the white supremacist 14-word quotation, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”

According to the complaint, Miller even chimed in with offensive momentary, sending references to Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto “Mein Kampf” and messages stating, “Hitler wasn’t such a bad guy once you get to know him,” and “Don’t be surprised if y’all hear the German national anthem playing in this mug tomorrow.”

Although Burrow and several white employees confronted Miller in opposition to the chat, Miller downplayed their complaints by stating that customers couldn’t view the messages and it wasn’t his role to “tell people what they can feel or believe,” the suit states. Miller never disciplined or fired chat members who sent racist and discriminatory messages.

According to the complaint, when Burrow finally asked Miller for the contact information to reach Jack’s human resources department, Miller dismissively responded with, “HR doesn’t care what we do here as long as we make money.” When Burrow reached out to HR, it took weeks for the department to return his call.

However, Burrow’s employment ended soon after he filed the complaint. Less than a month into his role, he was fired on June 29 after a heated altercation with the assistant manager in front of customers.

Burrow told the manager that he had to leave work early one day after learning that his home was possibly targeted by burglars.

When the manager accused him of lying, Burrow responded with profanity. Burrow was fired for violating the company’s internal policy of using profanity in front of customers, even though he witnessed one of his white coworkers regularly disregarding this policy by shamelessly using the N-word.

Jack’s HR department contacted Burrow after his termination to get more details on his initial complaint, but never followed up again, the complaint states.

Burrow filed a charge of race discrimination and retaliation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). During a year-long agency investigation, Burrow sent screenshots to Jack’s corporate officials showing the pro-Nazi references posted in the group chat by Miller. Miller is reportedly still employed with the company.

Burrow’s lawsuit asserts that Jack’s permitted a racist environment and retaliatory conduct in the workplace and seeks damages.