Last December, an Oregon man claims he was told to prepay for his breakfast at an Elmer’s restaurant chain.
The man, realtor Brian Eason, is now suing the restaurant for $100,000 due to “feelings of racial stigmatization,” saying that he was horribly offended by the experience.
“You’d like to think that type of brazen racism is fully buried in the past and it’s not,” Greg Kafoury, Eason’s lawyer, told KGW.com.
Eason said that even the waitress recognized the discrimination inherent in the situation. When she had asked him to pay up front, Eason asked why he was required to do so, and the waitress responded that she had been told by the restaurant’s owner that she had to ask for the money up front.
“I think it’s discrimination and my boss is here, and she’s forcing me to have me do this,” the waitress said, according to Eason.
While Eason paid the money up front, according to the lawsuit, he “continues to suffer, and will in the future suffer from feelings of racial stigmatization.”
Karson, Inc, the owners of the chain, has since come out to say that it acknowledges not only that Eason was required to prepay but also that a white couple was not. However, it has said that the confusion came because lounge guests were being required to prepay after several people left without paying but that the policy was confusingly explained and that the waitress thought people only had to prepay if they bought alcohol with their meal.
“We are disappointed to hear about the complaint which occurred at an Elmer’s location owned and operated by one of our franchisees,” said Jill Ramos, Director of Restaurant Support for Elmer’s.
“There is no Elmer’s policy requiring any guest to prepay for their meal. We have taken steps to ensure that the franchisee has ended this practice.”