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Roscoe's House of Chicken 'n Waffles will have to shell out over $1 million to a former employee who sued the restaurant for racial discrimination and wrongful termination. Roscoe's has seven L.A. locations, and the soul food restaurant is so popular, even the President stops there when he's in town. However, a jury just awarded Daniel Beasley, a black grandfather from Compton, $1.6 million in a racial discrimination suit, CBS LA reports. Beasley filed a claim against the restaurant, alleging that while working at the Pico location, his managers harassed him because of his race. Though the chain is owned by an African-American, Beasley said the management staff of the Roscoe's was not. "He gives full authority to the Hispanics to run it," he said.
He also said that his Latino coworkers were treated considerably better, including getting better schedules. When he complained to human resources and the owner of the company, they did nothing, he said. Eventually, he was fired, and said he fell into homelessness thereafter.
"It just caught me by surprise because here I am getting fired when I'm trying to fix the problem," Beasley said.
Beasley's lawyer, Scott Cummings, said that this case shows that racism "can occur really anywhere, even in a black-owned business."
A jury awarded Beasley $1.6 million in total, though Roscoe's has the option to appeal.