MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. – A 26-year-old server said she went to management repeatedly about a cook who was allegedly using racial slurs in the kitchen.
Zenarra James said she had no choice but to quit and file a lawsuit after making a horrific discovery in a salad she bought here.
“Razor blade is the best way to describe it,” said Jon Wylie, attorney with Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho.
The former server at the Red Robin in Madison Heights said it was hidden in a piece of chicken.
“I took my third bite into this salad and I feel something like hard and slippery in my mouth and I sift through the strings of the chicken and find a little piece of razor blade that they use to cut tomatoes,” James said.
“It was small enough where she could have swallowed it. That was the most dangerous part,” Wylie said.
James is suing Red Robin for racial discrimination. She said she went to management the first time she heard a cook use a racial slur.
The 26-year-old said the cook later confronted her, accusing her of snitching.
“I was really taken aback by that. About a month later, it happens again. He’s singing and yelling this song with n-word and I’m like literally right in front of him,” she said.
She went back to management but said nothing was done. A few weeks later, James said a co-worker retaliated.
James hopes the lawsuit will send a message to employers to take the concerns of people of color more seriously.
“They did not hold anyone accountable but what they did was told me I was making everybody uncomfortable for sticking up for myself,” she said.
A representative for Red Robin released the following statement to Local 4:
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Read the lawsuit below.