A Black woman who worked as an operations manager at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in suburban Philadelphia is suing the fast-food chicken franchise and its owner, who she says subjected her to nonstop racial and gay slurs for nearly two years, and also denigrated Black customers and co-workers.
In her federal civil rights lawsuit filed on Jan. 29 (and obtained by Atlanta Black Star), Tiffany Lynch, 38, claims that Joshua Grimm, owner/operator and president of the Chick-fil-A franchise in Wayne, Pennsylvania, created a hostile work environment by making discriminatory jokes and comments and treated Black employees and job applicants differently than their white counterparts.
When she objected to the discrimination, Lynch says, she was fired in retaliation.
Grimm, who is white, regularly used the term “ni—er” many times in her presence, Lynch claims, and made comments insinuating that Black customers “smell,” “will require extra cleanup,” and “are cheap,” relying on food stamps. “We don’t take food stamp,” Grimm once said.
“He did not make these same types of racist or stereotypical comments with Caucasians, regardless of their smell or appearance,” the lawsuit says. “It was clear racism, as he made such comments even about clean, professional-looking, or well-to-do Black clientele.”
Grimm was disinclined to hire Black applicants, Lynch says, often asking her if the person was “ghetto Black” or “Nasir Black,” referencing “a well-spoken and professional Black employee” employed at the Wayne Square restaurant, Nasir Stanley.
The restaurant employed far fewer Black than non-Black staff, the lawsuit says, and Grimm held Black employees to a higher or different standard than white employees and treated them “much more harshly” in terms of communication, discipline and termination.
Grimm, 33, who was Lynch’s direct supervisor, also made unwelcome comments alluding to her sexual orientation, often telling Lynch to get something “out of the closet” and then saying she might not come back “out of the closet” or that he didn’t want her to have to come out of the closet again, the lawsuit says.
Lynch was hired in December 2023 as executive director of operations and managed the front- and back-end operations of the restaurant for nearly two years. She says that during the last several months of her work with Grimm, she pushed back and complained to him directly about his discriminatory and offensive behavior.
She claims she told Grimm that “what he was saying and doing was discrimination,” including racist and homophobic comments about herself and their clientele. Lynch maintains that she complained to Grimm about his discriminatory hiring practices and warned that he should not discriminate against Black applicants by trying to discourage certain hires and asking if they were “ghetto.”
Grimm nonetheless continued his discriminatory, offensive and unprofessional behavior, the lawsuit says.
Lynch brought her concerns to Chick-fil-A’s human resources representative, who happened to be Grimm’s sister, which resulted in no investigation of or “meaningful or actual redress” of her discrimination complaints, she alleges.
Her expressions of concern and efforts to set “non-discrimination boundaries” noticeably frustrated Grimm close to the time that she was terminated, the lawsuit contends.
While on a planned and approved five-day vacation in November 2025, Lynch says Grimm abruptly cut off her access to the company email.
Alarmed, she sent an email to Chick-fil-A corporate manager Alvin Thompson and outlined the alleged history of discrimination and retaliation by Grimm that had gone unaddressed, and said that she was seeking help outside of the local franchise.
In response, Thompson wrote, “I am unable to provide any guidance,” according to his email embedded in the complaint.
The following day, Nov. 10, 2025, when she returned from vacation, Grimm fired Lynch, ostensibly for not asking him to approve the staff schedule she had prepared and distributed before she left on vacation. But Lynch says Grimm had never required such approval for scheduling in the past.
Two weeks later, Grimm sent her an official letter confirming she had been “terminated due to subpar performance.”
Lynch says Grimm had never before raised any concerns about her performance during her employment and didn’t issue any progressive discipline as dictated by company policy. She asserts that the reasons given by the CEO for terminating her were “false and pretextual.”
“Plaintiff believes and therefore avers that her race was the motivating or determinative factor in Defendants’ decision to terminate her employment,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit accuses Grimm and his franchise company, JLL Hospitality, LLC, d/b/a Chick-fil-A Wayne Square, of racial discrimination, gender/sexual orientation discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation in violation of federal and state civil rights law.
She seeks a jury trial to determine compensatory damages to make her whole, including front pay, back pay, bonuses and medical benefits; damages for emotional distress and suffering; and punitive damages.
The lawsuit also seeks a court order to prohibit the defendants from maintaining an illegal policy and practice of retaliating against employees and “to promulgate an effective policy against such discrimination/retaliation.”
Grimm and Chick-fil-A Wayne Square did not respond to requests for comment from Atlanta Black Star. Grimm and his Chick-fil-A franchise have 21 days after being served to file a response to the complaint.
Other Chick-fil-A franchises have been accused of mistreating Black employees and customers in recent months.
Last May, Thomas Wade, a Black man who worked as a cook at a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Idaho, filed a federal employment discrimination lawsuit claiming his co-workers subjected him to relentless racial harassment, including calling him an “ape” and “ni—er” and comparing him to a slave.
In that case, Wade’s direct supervisor and other co-workers, whom he said harassed him and refused to stop when he complained, were members of the same family, which owned the franchise.
More recently, in October, a Black police officer who walked into a Chick-fil-A in Augusta, Georgia, was humiliated when his three white partners were offered free breakfast while he had to pay for his food.
