Olive Garden Employee At Center Of Racist Incident To Sue The Restaurant

The former employee of an Indiana Olive Garden restaurant — one who was singled out because of her race by a customer who asked for a different server — plans to sue her former employer, USA Today reports.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, on February 29, 16-year-old Amira Donahue, who is black, was working her shift as a host at an Evansville Olive Garden location. During a busy Saturday evening dinner rush, a white customer purportedly began making a scene. Specifically, Donahue says, the customer yelled at her, went to her manager twice to complain about her, and then, when the customer in question was seated at a table with a black server, demanded a white server instead. The manager on duty that day, who is also black, acquiesced to the customer’s demand.

“Me and (the server) were both in tears for most of the day because it was just surprising,” Donahue said at the time.

The manager has since been fired.

“We have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind, and the manager involved no longer works for our company,” the company said in a statement.

Donahue, however, has since quit her job. Further, she has decided to sue her former employer, alleging that — among other things — a racist culture at that particular restaurant had become evident after the headline-making incident.

For example, Donahue claims that, since the incident, she’s been “harassed by and retaliated against by her coworkers and superiors,” and that she had complained about the harassment and retaliation to no avail.

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“The final straw happened yesterday evening when Amira overheard a coworker say, ‘black people will do anything for money’ and ‘I don’t like her,'” her attorneys said in a statement.

In a Facebook post, Amira’s law firm, Danks & Danks, said that the firm is “anticipating litigation” and will “eventually file something.” It remains unclear, as of this writing, what damages Amira and her attorneys might be seeking.

As for Amira, she’s receiving support from her community and from the world at-large.

For example, the high school student has a big rite of passage coming up — prom — and the retailer that had sold Amira her dress on a payment plan has decided to instead gift her the garment. She’s also been offered a job as a sales associate at the dress retailer, considering that she’s now back in the job market.

Meanwhile, the young lady is finding tons of moral support on Facebook, with hundreds of commenters on her posts offering words of encouragement and telling her to stay strong.