Jon Allison’s Monday Blog
According to a lawsuit filed a week ago, Vanessa Burrous, a hiring manager at a Whataburger location in Tallahassee, Florida, was told by her Store Manager to review applications and only call in for interviews those persons who had names that “sounded white.” The explanation given was that most of the customers were white and the company wanted the faces of its workers to “match” the customer base. Burrous complained about the instruction and refused to follow it. She was then retaliated against in the form of unwarranted discipline, increased workload and threats. She met with the Area Manager and was told the instruction came from upper management. She ultimately resigned rather than follow the instruction. It takes a lot of courage for an employee to refuse an improper instruction and report it up the chain. If the allegations are true, kudos to Burrous for doing so. We’ll see what happens in court.
Whataburger manager was pressured to hire only white applicants …
Lawsuit: Whataburger ex-manager said she was told to hire white …
