Four long-serving Black employees at an IHOP restaurant in Florida allege in a federal lawsuit filed last month that a white supervisor subjected them to repeated racial slurs, disparaging comments, and a hostile work atmosphere, and then retaliated against them for complaining about it.
Servers Margaret Bennett, 45, Stephanie Davis, 51, Carline Hunter, 49, and cook Jeffrey Wright, 41, who each worked at IHOP restaurants in Pompano Beach or Fort Lauderdale, Florida for a decade or more, claim that shift manager Brenda Bertetchuk and a male server, both white, regularly doled out racially offensive and belittling comments and created “an atmosphere of intimidation, ridicule and humiliation.”
Their lawsuit, obtained by Atlanta Black Star, alleges that after a Black customer returned an overcooked omelet in the spring of 2023, Bertetchuk, 50, told the four Black employees, “I thought you people like it burned.”
Bertetchuk, their direct supervisor, “routinely directed similar racially offensive comments to Black employees when customers returned overcooked food such as steak or chicken,” the complaint says.
During the Juneteenth holiday that year, Bertetchuk allegedly asked the three Black servers at the Pompano restaurant, “Why you all at work today if it’s the day my people let your people free?’ and “How did you all not know about Juneteenth, it’s the day we freed y’all.”
She also told an employee of Jamaican national origin that she “hated her accent” on Juneteenth, the lawsuit says.
A month later Bertetchuk “invoked slavery in the workplace,” the plaintiffs claim, by telling a Black employee, in the presence of Hunter and Davis, “My people were still selling you guys so shut up and do your job.”
Around Labor Day of 2023, the white manager allegedly “continued her racially offensive tirade” by making comments such as, “I’ll bring you chicken and watermelons” to Hunter and Davis and calling knickerbocker shorts that Wright was wearing “ni**erbockers” in front of other employees.
Bertetchuk wore a hat depicting a monkey on multiple occasions while interacting with or in the presence of Black workers, which the lawsuit says they found racially offensive and demeaning, given her freewheeling racial slurs.
She also made a habit of saying in front of Black employees, “if it’s not white, then it’s not right,” the lawsuit claims, and told subordinates they had to listen to her because she was “the master” and she had “whips.” On some occasions, Bertetchuk would mimic the sound of a whip cracking while making such comments, the plaintiffs claim.
Bertetchuk’s racially charged conduct towards Wright, a Black man, became increasingly sexualized over time, the lawsuit claims. On multiple occasions in 2023 and 2024, she made comments to him referencing stereotypes about Black men, including repeated comments about his “big black c–k” while touching him, and other “unwelcome, humiliating, and offensive” comments and insinuations about Wright’s alleged sexual promiscuity and sexual behavior.
Her racial animus towards the plaintiffs turned into physical aggression, the lawsuit contends. Bertetchuk “tossed plates aggressively” toward the Black servers and told Hunter that she wanted to trip her so that she would fall on her face. Around August of 2023, she allegedly threw a pancake at Davis.
The lawsuit says a white male server named Eric frequently dished out derogatory remarks along with the pancakes at the Fort Lauderdale IHOP, remarking in front of Bennett and other coworkers in June of 2022 that “f–king ni–ers getting on my nerve.”
A few months later, after three young Black boys allegedly dined and dashed, Bennett heard him comment, “if [he] had a gun to shoot those black f–kers.”
General Manager “Jeremy” wrote up Eric for making such racist statements, the complaint says, but the white server continued directing slurs towards his Black customers and co-workers.
In February of 2023, he allegedly said, in Bennett’s presence, “I hate these ni–ers; I don’t want to assist or take their orders.”
On more than ten occasions, the lawsuit says, Eric made remarks such as, “F–king ni–ers on a bad day,” regarding Black employees or customers.
The management team allowed his comments to persist even after Black employees complained, while Bertetchuk, a supervisor and agent of IHOP and its franchisee Sunshine Restaurant Merger Sub, LLC, engaged in race-based harassment and discriminatory conduct that created “a racially hostile and demeaning environment,” the lawsuit says.
The four plaintiffs repeatedly reported the racially hostile environment and discriminatory treatment to IHOP and Sunshine and demanded that the companies stop the offensive conduct and restore fair working conditions, the complaint says.
But instead of addressing their complaints, management at IHOP and Sunshine systematically retaliated against them for making such reports, the lawsuit asserts.
After Bennett complained about the racially hostile environment Eric created at the Fort Lauderdale location, GM Jeremy repeatedly removed the servers’ cart for transporting dirty plates to the kitchen, forcing Bennett and other servers to carry the plates by hand and changing their working conditions.
Plaintiffs Hunter, Davis and Wright all reported Bertetchuk’s conduct and retaliation either to her direct supervisor, “Anthony,” or by calling IHOP and Sunshine’s human resources hotline number in California, the complaint says.
Shortly after they reported and opposed the discriminatory conduct, IHOP and Sunshine allegedly retaliated against them by purposefully turning off or cooling equipment in the kitchen around August of 2023 and then by repeatedly refusing to repair the malfunctioning air conditioning system in the kitchen area, “creating unsafe, intolerable and excessively hot working conditions for all employees, including the plaintiffs.”
The plaintiffs claim the pancake franchisee further retaliated against Davis, Hunter, and Wright by substantially reducing their work hours, leading to their constructive termination.
Davis’s supervisors assigned her to work alone in the kitchen, which the complaint says they used to sabotage her performance and make her appear incompetent or unable to perform her job duties.
Wright’s supervisors terminated him by repeatedly leaving him off the work schedule.
Bennett was subjected to unwarranted discipline by Bertetchuk and her supervisor, Anthony, who “angrily told Bennett to ‘sit down’ before chastising her, substantially reducing her work hours, and ultimately terminating her employment,” the lawsuit says.
The adverse employment actions and retaliatory acts were causally related to plaintiffs’ legally protected activity of complaining about racial discrimination and harassment, the lawsuit claims.
As a result, the plaintiffs say they suffered lost wages and benefits, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, mental anguish, loss of dignity, and other compensatory damages that they want a jury to determine.
The lawsuit, which names IHOP Restaurants, LLC, Sunshine and Bertetchuk as defendants, alleges they all violated federal civil rights law by engaging in and failing to address unwelcome race-based harassment that was frequent, severe and continuous, creating a hostile work environment and by illegally retaliating against them for complaining to management about the racial slurs and discriminatory conduct.
Because Bertetchuk (who no longer works at IHOP, The Independent reported), IHOP and Sunshine “acted intentionally and with malice or with reckless indifference” to their federally protected rights, the four Black plaintiffs also seek punitive damages.
The lawsuit, originally filed in a Broward County Circuit Court on July 24, was moved to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida at the request of the defendants on August 26.
The three defendants have not yet filed an answer or other response to the complaint, typically due within 30 days after being served with it. They had jointly requested an extension until August 31 from the state court prior to their motion to remove the case. Federal law dictates that defendants have seven additional days to file an answer or responsive motion after removal of a case from state court to federal court.
IHOP and Sunshine did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Atlanta Black Star.
