It’s vital that today’s food service professionals have not just culinary expertise, but also business, management and critical thinking skills. Well-paying management positions in the expanding range of food and food service companies continue to expand around the world, along with the need for educated, experienced leaders.
After reading what people had to say about Darden leaves me speechless. I can't believe that they treat people less than human, put them down, call them names, and destroy their confidence. I also can't believe they cheat people out of their sick and vacation days, and under staff the areas that need more workers the most. I can somewhat relate to these workers because I was in a similar position as they were. My first real job in the food industry was when I was sixteen. They gave me the work of about two to three people and never trained me. They yelled at me and put me down. That destroyed my self-esteem and I even thought about changing my career. Darden has made a huge mistake by doing this to their workers. One, their actions will cause their company's name to be tarnished. Two, people will lose their desire to work for Darden. And three, it may even go as far as customers/consumers such as me, to boycott Darnden companies and take my business elsewhere. Listening to what these people had to say is just sickening. People who are trying to make a living while getting yelled at, put down, clocked out early, and cheated out of their vacation and sick days. This is wrong in so many ways and Darden ought to be ashamed of themselves.
I often come upon a conversation dealing with race. I disapprove that the Culinary industry is harsh and treat people as though they are mules who cannot back off a task and accept the work load. It is ridiculous that those people had to go through that. After a hard days work, working a load meant for three people I would have everyone reported as inhumane. These people are here to do their job. Getting your hand hurt during the job should be the issue of the restaurant and the managers should take care of their employees. I can't believe it is 2014 and there is still so much racism. I agree with Thomas Cosmo..They should be ashamed of themselves, and that is not the only place in the world where these occurrences happened, but a great percentage of restaurants are unfair to their workers, not just dishwashers, also interns of any color are treated unfair (we all know this). Those workers were dedicated...and for what? To afford living expenses and raising themselves and their families is not exactly cheap. Inside or outside of the restaurant they are burdened and jobs are hard to find. Somehow a great majority of the "bad guys" end up being managers, owners, or even mayor. ~Jessica Koehne
Darden Restaurants is a very big name running some of the best restaurants in the country, but its not all about profitability! Their are about a dozen case studies here that were reported by employees at different locations that are at the bottom of totem pole with in the Darden Restaurants. These employees are minority, uneducated individuals that know that they are lucky that they have a job. Even after being with that location for years; they were harassed, mistreated and taken advantage of. If Darden wants to hold there reputation as one of the best they need treat all employees fair and equally. Darden employees may just start referring to there bosses to "bendego's" in Spanish, which means asshole. If Darden doesn't change those dozen complaints from employees are going to turn into 100's of lawsuits from unhappy employees. Instead of Darden being a company making millions; it may have to pay out millions and they could easily get a horrible reputation as being "scummy". The CEO and COO making a combined salary of 15 million, they both need to take a look at the dynamics of their company and start fixing and changing the problems that are occurring or they may not be make 7 figures next year. -Jared Weiner
If a business, no matter what the size, wants to have longevity they must have a good employee base. If there is a good employee base chances are customers are going to be more satisfied with their experience and become loyal to that company. Clocking employees out while they are still working, calling employees derogatory names and not allowing employees to take off work for a work related injury are all ways to get a business into sever legal troubles. The fact that Capital Grille Restaurant, whose parent company is Darden Restaurants, not only have these allegations against them but also many more is hard to grasp. With the Capital Grille treating a large sum of their employees like objects instead of human beings is going to negatively affect the image of the restaurant. What I wonder is how the company was able to turn a blind eye to this situation for so long. Since the employee complaints are from people all over the United States it seems as if they company as whole does not have checks and balances when it comes to their managerial practices. The one thing I would have liked to have more information about is if the employees went through the chain of commands to report these harsh treatments. If they did, the company should have been proactive on the situation and done a reassessment on all their managers, chefs, shift leaders ect. This would have allowed the company to fix the problem before it escalated into a legal matter. Now Capital Grill and Darden are paying the price by being portrayed as an unethical company and the possibility of large cash payout to those employees who were treated poorly.
In this case, I'm sure Darden took every precaution there was before they made any announcement or decision on what they are doing about the current issue. As for Capital Grille, I'm sure they are balancing out, if they haven't already, the diversity of the employees. There is nothing worse then have discrimination charge put on your company. You will lose customers from your establishment, the morale of your employees will surely decrease, and rebuild of your reputation will not be an easy nor cheap phase to go through. As a business, i see the only way of turning this around is by first listening and understanding all the issues and concerns. Then follow up with an action plan to correct it along with an apology or and statement clarifying that those allegations are incorrect provided with factual examples. Next once thing are in place and running again follow with to make sure everything was improved generously and show that you actually care that your employees are comfortable and happy to work for you. an employee happy to work for you will produced satisfying work.
As an employee who has seen this type of behavior from other employees, I can say that what is happening with Darden should be addressed with other restaurants as well, even restaurants here in Providence. Not only is Darden losing customer base, but employees will think twice about applying for positions with this restaurant group as well. This is upsetting that Darden, a multi-million dollar company, cannot put efforts towards efficient human resources in order to make sure employees are treated fairly and equally. I give tons of sympathy to Elose Arestil and Carlos Marbrun who both had their boss clock them early, couldn't grow professionally, and washed dishes in unsufficient conditions. I agree with Jared W. in that the company really needs to reevalutate how they treat their employees and their distribution of payroll. Does the CEO really deserve that much salary? I took a gander at the news postings they had on the website, and this problem has been going on with Darden since 2011. I wonder why a large company such as Darden can't get their "stuff" together and assess the employment treatment problem and adjust their tactics. I already don't visit Darden restaurants often, but I will definitely think 10 times before visiting one of their restaurants again. - Noel Arsenault
To start of, if you want to have a successful business, you need to have respect for your employees. While reading some of the stories, I was in shock that a huge company was treating their employees this way. It does not matter what race or color you are, or if you do not speak english clearly; everyone have equal rights. Im sorry but fring those that are african american and saying that they do not meet standards, that is just not right. Everyone should be treated with respect especially when running a business, you can not go picking favorites and treated differently. People come to the U.S for a better living and to support their family, and just paying someone $10 and clocking them out while they are still work is just not right.
Its a good thing that recent employees are standing up for themselves, but also standing up for the future employees and helping them make a descision on whether they would like to work for an emplyeer that treates people like that.
While listening to the commentary of these employees I was surprised to hear what was happening specially in a company as big as this. I don't believe it is right what the company was doing to them especially when they working hard and have families to feed. And while there working hard for their families their being clocked out early or are being extremely underpaid. The discrimination that was happening is completely wrong just because someone is of a different color, race or can't speak the English language completely right, doesn't mean they should be treated as someone lesser or spoken to in the way that most of these employees were spoken to. They are just as much human as the other employees but they were treated as slaves, if they were hurt they could not go home or they would take the risk of being fired, losing their jobs and not being able to provide for their loved ones. I am happy that these ex-employees to stand so that things could change for future employees and current employees.
Unfortunately, reading these confessions did not surprise me. Having been in various different restaurants over the last 5 years, I have witnessed all kinds of discrimination, in CT and RI. Unfortunately, we do not live in a post racial world, where we can coexist in the work place. For some reason, people still have their prejudiced ways, and some of those people are in higher up positions. Reading and watching these confessions was extremely troubling, because these people seem so dedicated to their job, and to their company. How could you treat another human being, an equal, so poorly? Hopefully, new cycles will cover situations like this more frequently, and companies will reevaluate who they let run their restaurants.
I agree that the world is not as post racial as most of the public believes, but I think things like this happen it is just behind closed doors until people such as these people come out and expose it. I also don't think most people can comprehend how people can treat others so poorly, but it happens so often.
There are many problems with the Darden company. First off owners need to put their employees first, without employees you cannot run a successful operation. Not only do you need to put them first, you need to treat them with the utmost respect since they are the reason why your company will continue to run. Owner's need to take responsibility and care for their employees. To say it is unethical to clock employees out while they continue to work, or making them work through injuries, and not allowing for sick/vacation days, etc. is an understatement. If the employees did not start taking a stand and speaking out about what happens behind closed doors this whole issue would have gone unnoticed and human rights would have been violated on multiple levels.
After hearing about all these peoples stories it is clear that some of the biggest food service companies have more problems other than food related. As a person with five years experience in the restaurant industry i have worked with a large mixes of people from all different race and backgrounds, one thing that i learned from it is your work ethic is everything. I will never eat in any of dardens establishment ever again.
Its crazy to me that a company as big as Darden is doing this to their employees. Especially the comments about racism and how they have no black servers. Honestly, someones race has no impact on what kind of service they offer customers. Listening to these people's stories was really sad to me because no one should be treated that way. I have worked as a waitress for five years at two different places and have experienced some of this as well. We were told we were not allowed to go into overtime and a manager would tell you to clock out if you were close to 40 hours, even if you still had a table or side work to do. We also had a manager that would sexually harass many of the waitresses. Although he was eventually fired, it was long after many complaints had been made. I understand the pressure to cut costs and labor, but making employees work through breaks and clocking them out is not the right way to do it. This lawsuit is going to cost Darden a lot of money as well as its customer perception. I know I will think twice about eating at one of their restaurants again, and I'm sure many others will as well. Employees are the back bone to any restaurant and if you treat them well, they will treat the customers well, which in return creates more revenue. This is why it makes no sense to try and cut corner like this.
In todays society there is no tolerance for discrimination. Employers constantly get away with unfair work conditions, discrimination, and stealing money from their employees. Darden restaurants own many popular chain restaurants including Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, and Capital Grille. The past couple years Darden restaurants have been getting away with discrimination and unfair work conditions. Together the employees decided to step up, as they should. It’s disappointing to hear people are working so hard at these restaurants and are not being treated properly. The managers at these restaurants should be fired and new, properly trained employees who deserve the job should be put in. A huge corporation should be more responsible at creating diversity and hiring the right employees no matter what their race is.
I found this to be very upsetting i already disliked the company because of other ill practices in the kitchens and now this discrimination I take it personally being that I would be one of the ones the would treat in such a way due to where I am from. In modern society you cannot be discriminatory you will lose money through loss of patronage and law suits. the employees deserve way better than this i hope all the current managers and hierarchy that allowed this to happen get fired and lawsuits to expose them for the type of people they are. CRG
I think Capital Grill as a company should be ashamed of the way they are conducting business in the year 2014. Treating minorities (really majority) like second class citizens in this day and age isn't only criminal its just plain bad business. The age of the slave has gone, and so to will Capital Grill if they continue with their racist business practices.
After reading these articles it becomes apparent that big business has a negative affect on employee satisfaction. Being such a large company, like Darden, they take their hard workers for granted. The stories paint a picture of a thriving restaurant group, focused on profits, and views their employees as expendable. Having only worked for 2 seperate, individually owned food service operations I found the close knit group of employees I worked with very nurturing and eager to teach. Working for such a large company stripped these employees self esteems and depleted their confidence.
How can any company, in this day and age, even consider any of these practices okay on any level. Especially in our industry, employee happiness and well-being is a high priority because without it, our clients' own experiences will suffer. A company treating any employee this way really needs to take drastic measures to compensate the employees that have been harmed by this over the years and put measures in place to protect future employees from this blatant disregard of employee welfare if they don't want to be boycotted or shut down
I must say it is truly amazing how society works now a days. Human beings are people who need to survive and most of us do it by working. People who are willing to work should be the last to get discriminated those are our true workers. I hate how higher authority people think cause they are so high up there they have the right be "pendejos" right Jared? Especially employers such as Darden. We are all Human Beings!!! I feel for everyone who has been a victim of racism and it sucks. I leave you all with the note of not giving up and try to move up, it can only get better. Hard work will pay off eventually:)
I'm honestly surprised and shocked that certain Capital Grilles do this, especially because I worked at the Providence one for my internship last year. Although I wasn't being paid, I was treated with a lot of respect and kindness. You would think that in this day and age, hateful and disrespectful acts such as these would've stopped or at least calmed down. I guess it hasn't. I just find this to be disgusting and discouraging.
After reading this article I am trekt bothered by the discrimination and the lack if good work ethic by darden. Work ethic and respect is important in ant industry and keeping your employees happy and appreciated
It is an unpleasant sight to see employees to be treated with such disrespect at Darden Restaurant Group. The disgusting act of racism is unrighteous and I applaud the employees to take a stand on the issue. It is quite appalling that they would assign additional jobs to employees without compensating them. Managers are suppose be leaders, but in this case they lack any of those traits.
After reading these articles, the respect that I have for these establishments are gone. The amount of work that people into their job should be recognized and shouldn't be demoted because of their skin color or race. The management and the head of the company should be ashamed that their employees are being treated like this and legal action should be involved. Employees should not be losing their pay by being clocked out early while they are still working. I'm reluctant to go to Capital Grille ever again. JP920
I was shocked to learn about the discrimination going on in Darden restaurants. It is alarming that such a well-known and large company can get away for so long treating their employees like that. I think it is very important that the employees are standing up for their rights and demanding justice. The Darden company should be held responsible for their injustices and should financially compensate all employees affected.
As awful as these stories were to read and listen to I am glad that the employees are now doing something to stop it. Capitol Grille and Darden now face a huge public image problem being fueled by modern media and its going to be nearly impossible to now get there reputation back to where It used to be as well as huge costs financially to sales and retraining programs that I am sure that they will now need implement for all management staff.
This is ludicrous, I can't believe the descrimination that is going on at Darden. I'm writing a paper on Darden for my Hospitality class and I was appalled when I read this article. Not only does Darden not pay there employees fairly but they discriminate against minorities. I think darden should write a formal apology to all there employees as well as compensating there employees for this atrocity. Only then will Darden be anywhere close to being a ethical company.
After reading this article, I lost all my respect for Darden because how they are treating their employees. It should not matter what race the employees are because it just matters how they treat the customers. There should be no discrimination towards employees. Since there was, Capital Grille and Darden are now in a public eye for a huge problem. It makes me upset after reading and listening to some stories on how much work these employees put in and how they are not getting any recognition for it. I feel that no matter what race you are, you should be treated with respect and kindness. CH1130
Darden should be ashamed of themselves. How can they let things like this happen? This situation about exploiting their employees is totally going to ruin their reputation and their business fast if it is not fixed immediately. They can't recover from this a 100% but they should try really hard to make their current employees and their costumers see that this situation will be corrected. PAP 1130
I was very surprised after hearing about all the negative experiences at Darden. There is no need to treat any employee so crudely. When hiring and employee they are expected to receive certain level of respect, and Dardon clearly isn't keeping up with their reputation. I have great respect for the people that are joining to stand up and fight against their discrimination. Dardon has a reputation to uphold, and they should be ashamed.
I have had personal experience with management clocking me out even though I was still working. So I feel like I can really relate to what some of these employees are saying. The people you hire are working as a team to make sure that your business is successful. Cutting their pay and treating them horribly gives them no incentive to do their job to the best of their ability. If you want to have a successful business you need to start with your employees. If your employees are not happy then the service they provide to your customers is going to be substantially lower in quality than a happy employee. This concept needs to be implemented into every business especially restaurants. As far as discrimination, restaurants are one of the biggest offenders when it comes to businesses. It is easier for them to get away with it and no one has done anything about it. It is about time that someone has stood up for these employees. They do so much for the company with very little in return if anything. Most business have to meet a quota for hiring a diversely. I think it is about time that restaurants should have to so something similar. Hearing this about a company makes me never want to support this company in anyway.
KC920 I am very sorry for what these people are going through. I have had a manager who treated women unfairly and gave them lesser hours and wages than the other male cooks. I think that making sure to take all complaints seriously from all employees is important, but also, not being afraid to fire people for having these biases and acting on them. I think that if the management of these companies and the one I worked for had been more closely monitored, then the occurrence of these events would be reduced greatly.
It's disturbing to me how much Darden has gotten away with. After reading employees' stories and comments, I can't believe how terribly these workers were treated. When employees work hard and do their job, they deserve respect! Especially if they have been working there for a long period of time. A company cannot run properly if employees are not treated well. If these employees feel unappreciated, it creates a very hostile working environment- especially if their bosses or manager are disrespecting them. It's surprising to me how much the company has changed. I read that when Darden first opened, Bill Darden accepted everyone...but now in 2014 the company isn't doing that? It's very sad.
With Capital grill being such a successful high-end restaurant I’m surprised to find out that they weren’t always fair to their employees. I have had similar experiences with being forced to work through breaks and not getting and time off, personally I think that has something to say about the workers. If they are being forced to work through breaks and being that mistreated and still keep the quality that made the Capital grill successful. I’m glad that they stood up for themselves and showed the public how they were being treated.
My first reaction was similar to a lot of these previous comments, however, did anyone read through the litigation?? It doesn't appear that racism was truly at the heart of the problem as the article suggests. It appears more to me like a company like so many companies in today's markets, looking to save more profits, cut employment, and be cheap about every which way they can because they KNOW they can. With the economy being as bad as it is they feel empowered to take advantage of employees to do more and get paid less. Don't like it? Go get a new job, we'll find someone who will. Now I'm not saying that race may not play into wage differentials, there is definitely the data to support that. But since when was anyone FORCED to work for Capital Grille?? They have used the fact that most of the people filing lawsuits are minority and used words like "forced". Nobody is being charged with being racist by those people who filed suits. Those people even say that no one WAS racist, but that the company practices and policies were? Ok, wouldn't that be discrimination by the company then? Where are the upper managers? Since when did not liking your job transgress into being able to sue for it? Why not express your distaste for what is being asked and if the employer does not respond, quit. All I'm saying is, reading the article makes it seem like some forced labor situation where they are all minorities and therefore a racist issue. When you look into the actual court documents you can see that it is more about unethical employment practices. Black, White, Hispanic....The DC Lawyers smelled blood on this one. A company with bad human resources seems more like it.
Its amazing to me that this is even an issue anymore, considering the amount of diversity in the United States these days. And even though the Capital Grill and Darden were caught mis treating employees, Im sure they are not the only company doing so. And hopefully with all of the employees filing lawsuits it will help set standards on how to fairly treat your employees.
It is hard to fathom that such a large-scale company treats their employees with such disrespect. Discrimination against minorities, awful salaries with almost no tips, being clocked out before they are done working shifts, lack of paid sick days, etc. It is unimaginable. As someone who works in a kitchen, I understand how hard these people are working and for what? To be clocked out early and threatened to be fired for taking a sick day? Especially since these are employees of a restaurant and work with food and could potentially get other sick. For example, Mario, who was an employee of Capital Grille for 7 years injured himself by falling down the stairs on the job and hurting his spine, was threatened to be fired if he were to take an unpaid sick day. UNBELIEVABLE. Carlos, who was a dishwasher for Capital Grille spoke about how they would have long days with no breaks, were denied the ability to have water on them while they are working, and would be clocked out early while they were taking out the trash. Every cent counts when you get paid so poorly and even being clocked out half an hour early can add up at the end of the week. The way Darden is running their business is unethical, and simply wrong in so many forms. I hope that Capital Grille and other Darden run companies learn to treat their employees with respect, and provide them with the proper salaries and benefits that they truly deserve.
it's very disappointing that these people have to go through, i don't understand why we still do these things to each other just by the color of our skins, they are still people looking for the same opportunities just like everyone else hear in america. ive worked with men and women that are away from their own country making $$$ for their families that they left behind. its very sickening
After working for Darden when I exited the Military I can tell you first hand Darden unfortunately has bad General Managers on their staff. The racist comments and illegal adjustments to peoples time clock hours are totally uncalled for and unprofessional. I hope there is a class action lawsuit that can bring justice to these victims and right the wrongs that have happened against these employees.
As an established work group like this, you would expect more professionalism from them. I dont get that a company so big would try to screw over their employees by punching them out and making them work through breaks. A worker is at least required to get a half hour break during their shift and making them work through that unpaid is not right. These worker have to provide for their families and taking away that extra half hour adds up at the end of the week
This article made feel very uneasy. Being such a big company and having many well known restaurants you would think that Darden would be more professional with how they treat their workers. How is discriminating against a certain race going to help their success. There is no reason for these actions other than unprofessional and unethical practices. Clocking out workers while they are still working is ridiculous. The workers are there to work in order to provide for their families, even clocking a worker out a half an hour early still adds up in the long run. Coming from working in the restaurant industry I see that most workers of other ethnicities other than white are harder workers so why punish the people who are doing more for the restaurant, just because they are a different color? This absolutely is not right and I am very supportive of the workers who are standing up and fighting back for their rights.
I have never been to any of these Darden establishments but I will think twice now about spending my money at a place that takes money away from its employees. I know how hard it is to work your butt off, but I know how rewarding it is to receive your paycheck. I would be furious if I worked during my break or after hours and did not get paid for it. Also, the fact that this company is firing its employees because of their skin color is absurd. Some of the best servers I have had have been of color, and I have met some terrible white servers. The color of a persons skin has nothing to do with their ability to be a great server. This company seriously needs to rethink the way it runs its establishments. AA 9:08
I am completely baffled about what I read and saw from these videos about the company. You would think racism and all of that nonsense has ended but sadly it still exists today. I agree that things should completely change and the management position should change because it mainly comes from them. I wanted to play devils advocate on some situations. From Alex Pena, Elose, and Carlos by law they aren't required to give holiday pay, breaks, and or beverages while on the job. That is based mostly on the establishment/company. If you notice that you are clocked out by your chef or manager before you are suppose to clock out keep records or go home. By law they are to pay you by the fraction of the hour and you are to get paid while working. If they clock you out, you have the choice to go home because you're done for the day and if they have a problem with that then remind them of the fair labor laws. In Jose Henriquez video he talks about how he doesn't want to get fired and he asks the managers for a helping hand. 1. they are helping you out by giving a job and 2. if they treat you like garbage why not leave yourself. There are better places out there. Ignacio and Mario both had similar stories about injuries and they were told to work or get fired. If I had a spinal column injury and couldn't work and they told me I had to. Good bye because its not worth it at that point. Don't give in to them and come to work. It's a personal decision, either stay home and get better or knowingly go to work and get shitted on. Jay & Marcus were both the black servers that were fired and they talk about speaking up for justice. If there are people who choose to be quiet then its their choice. Frantz was the first story that talked about racism and saying how they had no black bussers but later in his story he mentions they had one black busser. Don't automatically assume and if it wasn't the position you wanted you could have left and found a place better. Sergio talks about how he felt discriminated because of his sexual orientation and mostly because he had no papers. If have no papers technically you aren't on their books and you're allowing them to treat you like this until you get those papers. The last video was Javier talking about taking more responsibilities than his job. Yes it sucks but its a helping hand. If you have time and there are things that need to be done then yes I would ask someone to do things because in the end we are all a team. So this was my thoughts on the videos trying to put another view on it. Most of these workers came here because the company offered great pay and what not. Once the workers noticed it wasn't they should have left, they should have spread the word about how horrible it was and yes create a campaign to end it. Now the real question is do they still want to work for a company that now 1. has a grudge on them for what they did 2. could slowly return to the old ways 3. flip the switch at any given time 4. fire them because of their biased opinions or do they want to leave a find a better place or company to work for?
I am glad that people are taking a stand for their rights. It was a terrible thing Darden corporation was doing and I am glad they are getting punished. I believe if they are to still exist as a company, they should have to rewrite all of their policies and show it infront of a judge to approve. They should also have occasional surveys for employees to fill out to make sure this is still not a problem and random check ups to stop it from happening. - Kaitlynn Johnson
I still can't believe in this day in age that people are still being discriminated against because of the color of their skin or because of their nationality. Especially when it is a huge corporation with many different restaurants. Having the reputation of treating employees in this way, of long work days with no break, overtime without pay and many others, and being such a huge company is not something that you want. Shedding this light onto this company will cause many customers dislike going to other places owned by Darden because who would want to support a company who treats their employees in this way. Darden definitely needs to write up different policies and make sure that all of their restaurants are following up on these policies. Then, there should be mystery check ups to stop this from ever happening again. The company should also donate certain proceeds if they want to help their public image and restore to the company people believed they were. As someone who has worked in a kitchen and in the front of house, time can sometimes slip by but my managers have always been certain to tell me to go on break. I can't imagine if after all my hard work, my managers would insist that I stay without pay or refuse to give me a break. I hope that there are not many other restaurants that are doing this to employees, especially because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity.
MM1130 It's interesting that the problems and the lawsuit began with black servers being fired for "not meeting the standard," but they are suing the company for their policies and practices rather than racism or discrimination. I wonder why they would do that, maybe discrimination is harder to prove? But I doubt there would be any written Darden policy that states not to hire black employees, that would be incredibly foolish. The article also says that employees of all races and all positions are being abused in other ways like being forced to work overtime without pay or reduced hours with the same amount of work. I wonder if it is happening equally among all races, or happening more to the black employees. If it is, they certainly have a case.
CA 140 I have worked for Darden for almost 2 1/2 years now and have not experienced any treatment as mentioned. Some time last year I did recieve a letter asking if I wanted to join the lawsuit if I had exeperienced anything similar. The bad press for Darden is not new, last yar they also recieved bad press for a health insurance fiasco. In the particular restaurant I work at employees to my knowledge are treated fairly equally based on race. Currently and in the past we have had managers from different backgrounds and skin colors. Much of front and back of the house is African American and treated equally. It is curious that all of the black servers were fired at the same time. After taking Hospitality Law it opened my eyes up to types of discrimination with in the work place. It is hard to prove a single instance but with large amounts of publicity and a team of smart lawyers the case can be made. If injustices are taking place int the company I work for then I hope they are held accountable. CA 140
I think its good that this information is coming out and being brought to the public. I have worked in this field and have experienced some of the things that these workers are experiencing. I find it sad that big companies like this are trying to cut back by tricking their employees into believing that these extra tasks and duties are part of their job. Everyone should be compensated for the extra work they do. It is even worse considering that it is a big company. It might be a little more understandable if it was a mom and pop place that was going under and just could not afford to pay the extra help. The managers of these establishments are just trying to make the numbers look good on paper for the big bosses so that everyone can get their bonus at the end of the year
It is truly sad to see that discrimination is still a problem in this day and age. After reading these articles I would ever take a job from a company that has done such aweful things. These people were just trying to make a living and get by but Darden thought they just were not good enough... ad for what reason? The work place should be a safe environment were everyone is treated kindly and compensated properly. Darden should have a better human resources department that standardizes how employees are compensated and treated. Maybe that way something like this could be avoided. I am truly disappointed to here about this.
For a Restaurant group like Darden to be so profitable and have a such a great image for food quality and standards but not and not offer basic benefits such as paid sick leave for their employees, goes to show how much they care for those who make their business as successful as it is on the surface. Its the waiters and bussers that customers see, those are the people that contribute to the continuing success of The Darden Restaurant Group. They deserve to be treated as human beings and not as if they're working for free. These people are out here trying to earn a decent living doing the things they're good at and in return they need to receive benefits and compensation for their effort. When a company says they're going to fire someone because it doesn't "fit their image" I have to think twice about giving them my money and contributing to their lack of respect for their employees
This article was certainly eye opening to the fact that there is still a huge prevalence of discrimination in today's society. It is mind blowing that capital grille and Darden would even treat their employees in ways that should have ended decades ago, I feel like certain points in society are taking a step back when it comes to equal rights. After watching the videos about the employees experience at capital grille and some were denied water while working or capital grille would clock them out manually is sickening. Being African American and reading about this amount of discrimination especially in a hospitality type of business hits home and it is really sad that this could not have been stopped sooner Bryce Harvey FSM 7:10
The most unfortunate part about these articles is how many other restaurants there are in this day and age that do the same exact thing. They take advantage of the employees with entry level positions who can easily be replaced but need the job the most. It's truly unfortunate that such a large corporation that has so many employees in so many locations would sink so low to raise their own profits, but maybe people standing up to them and making it a problem will cause others to do the same. LP140
I found this article really interesting because Darden owns a lot of different restaurants, however all of the complaints were specifically at Capital Grille. I am just shocked that managers in all of these restaurants did nothing at all to promote equality to their workers. Even if a manager works for a corporation, he or she should still care about the well being of their employees. It makes you wonder how many other locations of capital grille or even other restaurants owned by Darden are experiencing discrimination and abuse but are not coming forward.
I hate to see such discrimination even after all of the hard work many people have endured to see equal rights in our society. It sickens me to see that people think this way; that people think it is appropriate to treat a human being this way. I feel for these employees because I would never want to be treated this way in the workplace. I hope to see a happy ending for these employees and that Capital Grille and other establishments, not acknowledged, should change its management to help employees feel more welcomed and respected in the workplace and outside the workplace as well.
It seems like most cases concentrate on the establishment Capital Grille. I wonder if other establishments are going through the same thing and employees are just scared to speak out. One because most of the workers do not have legal documents (as seen in the videos) and two because they are pessimistic and are afraid that the worst will happen like losing their jobs. As a child from an immigrant myself I know that discrimination in a kitchen and threats have been a common norm. Managers and Chef feel like they can take advantage of illegal workers since they believe they deserve no rights. The actions that ROC is taking seems amazing because they are helping out not only those who speak English and are discriminated because of skin color but also those who feel like they have no voice because they don’t speak the language. Like mentioned in other post; Darden Restaurants holds a high and proud name and it disguises me to see what their employees have to deal with. These things include being clocked out before they finish working, doing the job of 2 to 3 people and giving them no reward, no sick days not even unpaid, lowering the self esteem by allowing managers to be called “dumb and stupid”, no water and no breaks the saddest of them all is firing black servers because “they did not meet company standards”. I had no interest in Darden at all before but now I want to keep up to date to the day were they realize this issue must be taken care of. These conditions are inhumane and no one should have to go through this situation everyday at work or any day at all. It just isn’t right.
These cases of discrimination are not right at the Capital Grill. There should never be cases like this, but unfortunately you can see that it has been an issue. What I want to know is the chef/management's point of view. I do understand that there were issues, but there must have been some sort of justification. With have been working in the restaurant industry for the past 2 years, I see simular issues like this. A lot of it has to do with communication. Regardless though, Capital Grill needs to treat their employees with respect. They need better training established because that would solve a lot of their issues. The Chef's clocking the employees out early because of budget cuts should not be taken out on these employees. They are still hard workers and should be paid and treated like so. Hopefully since this has been released, Capital Grill and Darden Restaurant group has taken control of the issue and stopped the discrimination.
Racism and discrimination in all forms are wrong and when reading many of these story's I was appalled by what these people were doing. They harassed allot of these employees even firing almost African american servers at their establishments. If anything this sickened me by the way they treated the people in their own restaurant team. If they fire any employees they should fire the managers for letting this happen and they should fire the people who mess with their time cards. The bottom line is that this shows some people trying to get up in the world that are getting shut down and I just think that's wrong.
There is a difference between discrimination and bad employment practices. Reading through the article I thought that this was an issue of racism, however as I read through the litigation filed, it seems as though it is more of an issue of pour employment practices. No racist comments are mentioned in the litigation from the employees. I feel as though the lawyers to make sure that it gets recognition in the press are playing this racism angle. The sad thing is that we as Americans don't really care about bigger corporations taking advantage of people (they have been doing it for years). We do however care about those who are being discriminated against because of their race. It is sad that they had to make it into something it is not to get the recognition that is deserves. ART140
I believe this treatment of workers is unacceptable. Employees at all of Darden Restaurants and all along Darden’s supply chain deserve to be given equal opportunities, to be fully and fairly compensated for their efforts, and to enjoy a safe and healthy workplace. This company need to change their policies to take care more employees who get different skin color and support human resourece department to train managers of each restaurants.
I find it amazing and appalling that stuff like this is happing in such well-known restaurants. You would think Places of there stature would be the leading example how great employee service is done. I think it says a lot about a company that step on the small people that help their company run to make more money at the top. Thinking back at my life, I have been to several of Darden’s restaurants multiple times for birthday parties, get together, or just eating out with my family. I never knew this what was going on behind the scenes. I believe these should be more publicly known, because the more people that stop eating there, the quicker they will change their ways.
This act by Darden is unbearable. As for me I will think 10 times before dining in to this restaurant. Everyone should have the right and fair treatment no matter we are black, white, yellow or any other color. These workers deserve to be treated in a better way. This cooperation and the higher management should sit together to make a change. This form of racism should stop. XY 140
What Darden is doing is wrong on so many levels. The color of someones skin should have nothing to do with how they are paid or how they are promoted. If someone is a good and hard worker they should be paid the proper amount. Also clocking someone out while they are still working is so immoral that I can not even think that such a well known restaurant franchise would do such a thing. Management should not be allowed to clock someone out or tell them they are not allowed to take a break if legally they work the amount they are suppose to. It is appalling that they would treat their employees so dishonorably. I also disagree with firing an employee for asking for a few days off when they were hurt ON the job. If anything they should want them to take a few days off to get better so the restaurant doesn't get sued. Racism in the world really needs to stop. Everyone deserves to be treated as an equal. It does not matter if you are white, black or purple with green polka-dots, everyone deserves respect. KMP 140
Disgusted, this is the only word that can fully encompass all of my personal and professional feelings on the matter with Darden. Many of the acts can only be described as reprehensible. These people worked hard for the money they get. But that hard work was being rewarded by theft and detest. The company was taking there time and reducing it to save a few extra dollars. By the testimony of one of the individuals fired, "Darden makes millions of dollars a year" What justification can be made by these people do deny there workers there full hourly pay. Or to deny an injured employee time off and to threaten them with termination from the company. Or even the fact of keeping someone in the same position for two years doing the work of three people. What justification can there be for discrimination against people of different ethnicity or sexual orientation. There is none, there is no redemption and no excuse, Darden has betrayed its employees, and it has betrayed its image. Soon people will no longer tolerate these injustices, soon there will be resolution to this insurrection. I may not know all there is to know about life and business. But I do know that a persons roll in the work environment, no mater how seemingly small or large it is, is always vital. And all should be given the same respect and opportunity as the next person. Not everyone has to be the head chef, just not kitchen slave. CTN 140
After reading the article, I could not believe these bad things were happening somewhere still now. The reason why I could not believe that.. I used to do my internship in a very small restaurant. There were two people for dishwashing, and the chefs, cooks, and servers treated them just like family. There is just one thing I really want to say.. they should be thank for them who work and help for them. They should be modest for earning much money from their business. Without people who are working for the company, there won't be honor for the company. HS140
This article clearly shows the fact that the discrimination still remains as one of the most crucial issues in our society. I strongly believe that no matter what situation, this kind of act is not acceptable. Every individual deserves to have equal opportunities and receive a fair treatment without evaluating by different backgrounds or skin colors. The company should stop their current policies, focusing on their own profits, and change their policies while providing better training or compensation methods. YJ 140
I do find it a little strange that all of these cases are coming from Capital Grille when Darden owns several other franchises. But nonetheless, it disgusts me at how Darden treats it's employees based on the color of their skin. It is completely immoral for management to clock out employees and make them work for free. They have families to provide for and bills to pay just like the rest of us. Also, not allowing these employees to call out of work for a legitimate reason, such as an injury they received while at work, is absolutely ridiculous. Darden has to realize that it's with the help of dedicated employees that have helped make Darden as successful as they've been and discriminating against them isn't a way to repay them. I hope that with these lawsuits, Darden will realize that these practices they have now need to be changed and learn that it's not ok to discriminate against people.
I find it shocking that such a well known and well respected restaurant such as Capital Grille to be treating their employees in such a matter. It is absolutely absurd that we as a society are still racist and treating those who are not "white" in such an ill matter. To make comments such as someone being a "slave" and not allowing them to be a server due to conserving the companies image is absolutely disgusting. What ever happened to the saying, "do not judge a book by it's cover" ? It is also ILLEGAL to clock out employees who are still working, to not give breaks, and to not pay them for overtime or other jobs the company is obviously forcing the employees to do. The only reason why these employees put up with such ill treatment is because they have no other source of income and need to provide for their families. The company needs to understand that a successful business starts with happy employees.
This article directs Capital Grille and Darden. With the unfair treatment of people that did not fit " Capital Grille Standards". I am truly not surprised about this, especially it being more of a corporation. I personally witnessed this at a previous job. I don't think this is fair at all, who would enjoy doing more work for less money, I know i wouldn't. The employees respond by filing law suit which was completely understandable. Fighting for their rights and money is only right. If it's not like this corporations will continue for unfair treatment of certain employees. They need to pay for the damage they have done.
I was surprised when I read the article. How the company, Darden, treats employees like that? The company should do what it has to do in a right way because it is very unfair to treat workers that way. The company should treat the employees with not a skin color, but proper level of respect. I still cannot believe this big and famous company does discrimination and clocking employees out in the operation. The company has to fully reflect on its conduct, and consider carefully upon all the employees said to the operation to get honest profits.
At First, what surprising me the most, this was actually happening today, in 2011. Discrimination and Racism issues has been a very critical for more than 50 years, and I cannot believe some people still divide people by color. Where is human dignity? If this is really happening at Darden, It must be happening in other industries too, but the issues just have not came out yet. The most important thing to remember is whoever, you are employer, or employee, it is human to human. If this is going for lawsuits, Darden should be clearly states what the “Standard” is. JAK710
Karla Lovo (Im not sure why the name on my google account is nicole) As a foreign person in the industry I can relate to such discrimination. I have had it at school with some snarky comments by my teachers and friends, and I have had it while on the job. It is disgusting for me to see any type of discrimination happen in the workplace. People should be judged based on skill, not on skin color, cultural background, or gender. The Darden restaurant chain should have some kind of sanction or fine to pay, as this type of problem should not be tolerated. If its not Darden's fault and just their general managers', they should be fired, and future people who are hired should go through some kind of cultural education program. KL710
The Dignity at Darden website makes valid points adhering to the equality of employees in categories such as pay, working conditions, and other standard implications. The discrimination of pay in association with race or gender is so outdated it is unbelievable to see company's still doing this to people-equal pay for equal work, that's the law. Further more, story's such as Carlos' where he describes his dishwashing duties and how he was given no lunch breaks, water privileges, and was clocked-out early in return is mind-blowing to say the least. Dish washers are given the most responsibility, the dirtiest work, and the least respect amongst employers and fellow employees (this article implies). Action of the lawsuits and ROC groups are igniting the frustrated employees of establishments like Capital Grill, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden, (under the Darden Group) with confidence and legal assurance that what is being done to them is unjustified and deserves recognition. Darden Group needs to asses it's priorities and standards for their employees and for their own reputations sake. With their ethic questioned they loose respect from workers but most of the general public has yet to realize what is happening to fellow Americans everyday, theft, discrimination, and inequality. This issue needs to be vocalized and these companies should be reprimanded for their slimy ways. MA920
It is absolutely appalling to see that even in today's working environment, there is still discrimination amongst employees for something as simple as the traits that one was born with. It shouldn't matter if an employee is a different color or gender, all people should be treated with the same respect. The very idea that a person is payed less than what is agreed, or taken advantage of in such a way is disgusting to say the least. It is common sense that those should be payed the amount that is agreed, and it destroys the employee-employer relationship to give any less than that. On top of this, there is the issue of human rights. To make employees work overtime, without paying them, and without any form of rest, is wrong. A company as professional and well-known as Capital Grille, and other Darden establishments, should know better. I am disappointed that this company went with such an unprofessional approach at running their businesses. I have great respect and support for those who were brave enough to stand up to such a large company, and hope they get all the money back that they may have lost over the years and more.
Reading this article, I was disappointed that restaurants owned by Darden would conduct abhorrent and unprofessional behavior such as cutting their employee wages. Their employees are in a legal agreement with the company; they will do what the company asks as long as the company does what they agreed upon. Adding onto that fact, it appears that minority groups that work in these restaurants are being discriminated against and expected to do extra work for no extra compensation. Our predecessors fought for equality 50 years ago, this shouldn't have to be the issue anymore. Employees are expected to do their job and excel at it, there is no doubt about that. But, when management do not meet the expectations of its employees then it shows how much they care about the roots of its operation; none at all. Without a strong foundation, the structure will collapse and this WILL happen to Darden so long as they continue to discriminate their employees.
As a foreigner myself to this country I feel very empathetic to immigrant workers who aren't being treated right. Not being allowed to drink beverages during service, clocking out before the shift, not providing tips is very inhuman, greedy and distasteful for a popular restaurant such as the Capital Grille. I have dined at one of the restaurants and I did notice that all the servers including the hostess were white. There were no servers of other ethnicity. I am surprised that they do not fear getting punished by the law which is probably the reason why discrimination and inhuman behavior has been going on for such a long time. I can hope that the scenario changes because I being a culinary student myself, when I step out into the industry, I refuse to being treated in a similar manner with low wages, racial slurs and ill treatment.
These situations are nuts. I'm thoroughly bothered that some of these folks were often clocked out early and that some worked for free off the clock because of how decent these people seems. At my work there's this adorable Asian dishwasher and I feel as though my managers take advantage of him. He is fairly naive and is convinced (by the managers) that he is the only one capable of completing the tasks they ask for. In addition, several of my coworkers have worked at our company for over a year, and should have gotten raises. When theyd bring it up to my manager, he'd reassure them that he would enter that into the system but of course he's lazy and never does... One of my coworkers went over two months under the impression that she had been given her well deserved raise. She realized that her pay rate remained the same after having to get a paper copy of her pay stub. Management in corporate locations such as Capital Grill and my work have to get their heads together.
After reading the articles and listing to the interviews it is rather disturbing to learn this about such a large and successful company. The goal of a company is to make the largest profit but this is an unacceptable way to treat people regardless of how much money the company makes. Not only is Darden disrespecting their employees they are stealing from them. The biggest issues I have with these articles and interviews is the fact managers would overload one worker with responsibilities of that of 3 workers and that they would clock out workers while they were still finishing their shift. Many of the people interview said they were hired for one job and were expected to do the job multiple people, never being given help. Not only are the workers getting paid next to nothing compared to what is asked of them; but they are stealing from them making them work for free when managers clock them out while their still working. One of the biggest aspects of this industry that draws me to it is the focus of a team working together to accomplish a goal. It is rather difficult for me to read through this and see that such a large company isn’t treating their players with respect. I believe no matter if your executive chef, server, or dishwasher all positions on the field (in the restaurant) are important and as teammates we should be willing and want to help fellow players to achieve our common goal.
I read shameful readings. I truly felt a discrimination in readings. Danden has shameful treatment to their staffs. How big or small companies are, I think that those treatment to staffs are not acceptable. The staffs have to find their right as soon as possible, and should be compensated by Danden. How can companies improve without staffs? JRL710
The testimony that really struck me was that by Jared and Marcus from Capital Grille in Chevy Chase. It is appalling to me that this type of discrimination is still going on today. Darden should be ashamed of this. Both Jared and Marcus are very well spoken and qualified for their positions as we can see in the video, and it is troubling to think that in this day and age people can still be fired due to the complexion of their skin. When Marcus exclaimed: "Me personally, as a black man, discrimination is all I have ever known", that definitely struck a chord with me. I will definitely think twice before going out to eat at Capital Grille or any other restaurant owned by Darden.
After reading and listening about how the employees were treated during their time of working at Capital Grille, I find it disturbing. No one should be treated the way they were. A company making billions of dollars should be treating all their employees with respect and making sure no one is suffering. No one should be doing the job of 3 people and than get yelled at by a boss saying they are not working fast enough. Also, no one should be working with an infection since they could ultimately pass that along to the guests. The fact that this is happening in 2012 is even worse. I will never be going to any place that treats their employees like this. HME1130
After reading this article and listening to the individual stories of Capital Grille's former workers, I no longer have respect for the people in charge of this establishment. It is a shame how such a big name and profitable establishment can be so crude and ignorant behind closed doors. In order to be a successful business an establishment must be able to embrace people of all kind and color. They should be able to use their knowledge and talent to further grow the business instead of keeping them in the back room and treating them like dirt. The fact that they had the nerve to say that having blacks in the front of the house did not fit the company's image just makes my blood boil. JB 1:40 T/H
Abuse of the entry level employee is unfortunately an all too common in the world today. It’s gotten so out of control that they’re even making reality shows out of it now (restaurant impossible, Kitchen nightmares). Worst of all, a lot of these people can’t simple quit because they have whole families relying on them. At the very least these people have organizations that will help them have their voices heard.
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After reading what people had to say about Darden leaves me speechless. I can't believe that they treat people less than human, put them down, call them names, and destroy their confidence. I also can't believe they cheat people out of their sick and vacation days, and under staff the areas that need more workers the most.
ReplyDeleteI can somewhat relate to these workers because I was in a similar position as they were. My first real job in the food industry was when I was sixteen. They gave me the work of about two to three people and never trained me. They yelled at me and put me down. That destroyed my self-esteem and I even thought about changing my career.
Darden has made a huge mistake by doing this to their workers. One, their actions will cause their company's name to be tarnished. Two, people will lose their desire to work for Darden. And three, it may even go as far as customers/consumers such as me, to boycott Darnden companies and take my business elsewhere.
Listening to what these people had to say is just sickening. People who are trying to make a living while getting yelled at, put down, clocked out early, and cheated out of their vacation and sick days. This is wrong in so many ways and Darden ought to be ashamed of themselves.
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ReplyDeleteI often come upon a conversation dealing with race. I disapprove that the Culinary industry is harsh and treat people as though they are mules who cannot back off a task and accept the work load. It is ridiculous that those people had to go through that. After a hard days work, working a load meant for three people I would have everyone reported as inhumane. These people are here to do their job. Getting your hand hurt during the job should be the issue of the restaurant and the managers should take care of their employees. I can't believe it is 2014 and there is still so much racism.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Thomas Cosmo..They should be ashamed of themselves, and that is not the only place in the world where these occurrences happened, but a great percentage of restaurants are unfair to their workers, not just dishwashers, also interns of any color are treated unfair (we all know this).
Those workers were dedicated...and for what? To afford living expenses and raising themselves and their families is not exactly cheap. Inside or outside of the restaurant they are burdened and jobs are hard to find. Somehow a great majority of the "bad guys" end up being managers, owners, or even mayor.
~Jessica Koehne
Darden Restaurants is a very big name running some of the best restaurants in the country, but its not all about profitability! Their are about a dozen case studies here that were reported by employees at different locations that are at the bottom of totem pole with in the Darden Restaurants. These employees are minority, uneducated individuals that know that they are lucky that they have a job. Even after being with that location for years; they were harassed, mistreated and taken advantage of. If Darden wants to hold there reputation as one of the best they need treat all employees fair and equally. Darden employees may just start referring to there bosses to "bendego's" in Spanish, which means asshole. If Darden doesn't change those dozen complaints from employees are going to turn into 100's of lawsuits from unhappy employees. Instead of Darden being a company making millions; it may have to pay out millions and they could easily get a horrible reputation as being "scummy". The CEO and COO making a combined salary of 15 million, they both need to take a look at the dynamics of their company and start fixing and changing the problems that are occurring or they may not be make 7 figures next year.
ReplyDelete-Jared Weiner
If a business, no matter what the size, wants to have longevity they must have a good employee base. If there is a good employee base chances are customers are going to be more satisfied with their experience and become loyal to that company. Clocking employees out while they are still working, calling employees derogatory names and not allowing employees to take off work for a work related injury are all ways to get a business into sever legal troubles. The fact that Capital Grille Restaurant, whose parent company is Darden Restaurants, not only have these allegations against them but also many more is hard to grasp. With the Capital Grille treating a large sum of their employees like objects instead of human beings is going to negatively affect the image of the restaurant. What I wonder is how the company was able to turn a blind eye to this situation for so long. Since the employee complaints are from people all over the United States it seems as if they company as whole does not have checks and balances when it comes to their managerial practices. The one thing I would have liked to have more information about is if the employees went through the chain of commands to report these harsh treatments. If they did, the company should have been proactive on the situation and done a reassessment on all their managers, chefs, shift leaders ect. This would have allowed the company to fix the problem before it escalated into a legal matter. Now Capital Grill and Darden are paying the price by being portrayed as an unethical company and the possibility of large cash payout to those employees who were treated poorly.
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In this case, I'm sure Darden took every precaution there was before they made any announcement or decision on what they are doing about the current issue. As for Capital Grille, I'm sure they are balancing out, if they haven't already, the diversity of the employees. There is nothing worse then have discrimination charge put on your company. You will lose customers from your establishment, the morale of your employees will surely decrease, and rebuild of your reputation will not be an easy nor cheap phase to go through. As a business, i see the only way of turning this around is by first listening and understanding all the issues and concerns. Then follow up with an action plan to correct it along with an apology or and statement clarifying that those allegations are incorrect provided with factual examples. Next once thing are in place and running again follow with to make sure everything was improved generously and show that you actually care that your employees are comfortable and happy to work for you. an employee happy to work for you will produced satisfying work.
ReplyDeleteAs an employee who has seen this type of behavior from other employees, I can say that what is happening with Darden should be addressed with other restaurants as well, even restaurants here in Providence. Not only is Darden losing customer base, but employees will think twice about applying for positions with this restaurant group as well. This is upsetting that Darden, a multi-million dollar company, cannot put efforts towards efficient human resources in order to make sure employees are treated fairly and equally. I give tons of sympathy to Elose Arestil and Carlos Marbrun who both had their boss clock them early, couldn't grow professionally, and washed dishes in unsufficient conditions. I agree with Jared W. in that the company really needs to reevalutate how they treat their employees and their distribution of payroll. Does the CEO really deserve that much salary? I took a gander at the news postings they had on the website, and this problem has been going on with Darden since 2011. I wonder why a large company such as Darden can't get their "stuff" together and assess the employment treatment problem and adjust their tactics. I already don't visit Darden restaurants often, but I will definitely think 10 times before visiting one of their restaurants again. - Noel Arsenault
ReplyDeleteTo start of, if you want to have a successful business, you need to have respect for your employees. While reading some of the stories, I was in shock that a huge company was treating their employees this way. It does not matter what race or color you are, or if you do not speak english clearly; everyone have equal rights. Im sorry but fring those that are african american and saying that they do not meet standards, that is just not right. Everyone should be treated with respect especially when running a business, you can not go picking favorites and treated differently. People come to the U.S for a better living and to support their family, and just paying someone $10 and clocking them out while they are still work is just not right.
ReplyDeleteIts a good thing that recent employees are standing up for themselves, but also standing up for the future employees and helping them make a descision on whether they would like to work for an emplyeer that treates people like that.
While listening to the commentary of these employees I was surprised to hear what was happening specially in a company as big as this. I don't believe it is right what the company was doing to them especially when they working hard and have families to feed. And while there working hard for their families their being clocked out early or are being extremely underpaid. The discrimination that was happening is completely wrong just because someone is of a different color, race or can't speak the English language completely right, doesn't mean they should be treated as someone lesser or spoken to in the way that most of these employees were spoken to. They are just as much human as the other employees but they were treated as slaves, if they were hurt they could not go home or they would take the risk of being fired, losing their jobs and not being able to provide for their loved ones. I am happy that these ex-employees to stand so that things could change for future employees and current employees.
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ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, reading these confessions did not surprise me. Having been in various different restaurants over the last 5 years, I have witnessed all kinds of discrimination, in CT and RI. Unfortunately, we do not live in a post racial world, where we can coexist in the work place. For some reason, people still have their prejudiced ways, and some of those people are in higher up positions. Reading and watching these confessions was extremely troubling, because these people seem so dedicated to their job, and to their company. How could you treat another human being, an equal, so poorly? Hopefully, new cycles will cover situations like this more frequently, and companies will reevaluate who they let run their restaurants.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the world is not as post racial as most of the public believes, but I think things like this happen it is just behind closed doors until people such as these people come out and expose it. I also don't think most people can comprehend how people can treat others so poorly, but it happens so often.
DeleteThere are many problems with the Darden company. First off owners need to put their employees first, without employees you cannot run a successful operation. Not only do you need to put them first, you need to treat them with the utmost respect since they are the reason why your company will continue to run. Owner's need to take responsibility and care for their employees. To say it is unethical to clock employees out while they continue to work, or making them work through injuries, and not allowing for sick/vacation days, etc. is an understatement. If the employees did not start taking a stand and speaking out about what happens behind closed doors this whole issue would have gone unnoticed and human rights would have been violated on multiple levels.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing about all these peoples stories it is clear that some of the biggest food service companies have more problems other than food related. As a person with five years experience in the restaurant industry i have worked with a large mixes of people from all different race and backgrounds, one thing that i learned from it is your work ethic is everything. I will never eat in any of dardens establishment ever again.
ReplyDeleteIts crazy to me that a company as big as Darden is doing this to their employees. Especially the comments about racism and how they have no black servers. Honestly, someones race has no impact on what kind of service they offer customers. Listening to these people's stories was really sad to me because no one should be treated that way. I have worked as a waitress for five years at two different places and have experienced some of this as well. We were told we were not allowed to go into overtime and a manager would tell you to clock out if you were close to 40 hours, even if you still had a table or side work to do. We also had a manager that would sexually harass many of the waitresses. Although he was eventually fired, it was long after many complaints had been made. I understand the pressure to cut costs and labor, but making employees work through breaks and clocking them out is not the right way to do it. This lawsuit is going to cost Darden a lot of money as well as its customer perception. I know I will think twice about eating at one of their restaurants again, and I'm sure many others will as well. Employees are the back bone to any restaurant and if you treat them well, they will treat the customers well, which in return creates more revenue. This is why it makes no sense to try and cut corner like this.
ReplyDeleteKB1130
In todays society there is no tolerance for discrimination. Employers constantly get away with unfair work conditions, discrimination, and stealing money from their employees. Darden restaurants own many popular chain restaurants including Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, and Capital Grille. The past couple years Darden restaurants have been getting away with discrimination and unfair work conditions. Together the employees decided to step up, as they should. It’s disappointing to hear people are working so hard at these restaurants and are not being treated properly. The managers at these restaurants should be fired and new, properly trained employees who deserve the job should be put in. A huge corporation should be more responsible at creating diversity and hiring the right employees no matter what their race is.
ReplyDeleteI found this to be very upsetting i already disliked the company because of other ill practices in the kitchens and now this discrimination I take it personally being that I would be one of the ones the would treat in such a way due to where I am from. In modern society you cannot be discriminatory you will lose money through loss of patronage and law suits. the employees deserve way better than this i hope all the current managers and hierarchy that allowed this to happen get fired and lawsuits to expose them for the type of people they are. CRG
ReplyDeleteI think Capital Grill as a company should be ashamed of the way they are conducting business in the year 2014. Treating minorities (really majority) like second class citizens in this day and age isn't only criminal its just plain bad business. The age of the slave has gone, and so to will Capital Grill if they continue with their racist business practices.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading these articles it becomes apparent that big business has a negative affect on employee satisfaction. Being such a large company, like Darden, they take their hard workers for granted. The stories paint a picture of a thriving restaurant group, focused on profits, and views their employees as expendable. Having only worked for 2 seperate, individually owned food service operations I found the close knit group of employees I worked with very nurturing and eager to teach. Working for such a large company stripped these employees self esteems and depleted their confidence.
ReplyDeleteHow can any company, in this day and age, even consider any of these practices okay on any level. Especially in our industry, employee happiness and well-being is a high priority because without it, our clients' own experiences will suffer. A company treating any employee this way really needs to take drastic measures to compensate the employees that have been harmed by this over the years and put measures in place to protect future employees from this blatant disregard of employee welfare if they don't want to be boycotted or shut down
ReplyDeleteI must say it is truly amazing how society works now a days. Human beings are people who need to survive and most of us do it by working. People who are willing to work should be the last to get discriminated those are our true workers. I hate how higher authority people think cause they are so high up there they have the right be "pendejos" right Jared? Especially employers such as Darden. We are all Human Beings!!! I feel for everyone who has been a victim of racism and it sucks. I leave you all with the note of not giving up and try to move up, it can only get better. Hard work will pay off eventually:)
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly surprised and shocked that certain Capital Grilles do this, especially because I worked at the Providence one for my internship last year. Although I wasn't being paid, I was treated with a lot of respect and kindness. You would think that in this day and age, hateful and disrespectful acts such as these would've stopped or at least calmed down. I guess it hasn't. I just find this to be disgusting and discouraging.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article I am trekt bothered by the discrimination and the lack if good work ethic by darden. Work ethic and respect is important in ant industry and keeping your employees happy and appreciated
ReplyDeleteIt is an unpleasant sight to see employees to be treated with such disrespect at Darden Restaurant Group. The disgusting act of racism is unrighteous and I applaud the employees to take a stand on the issue. It is quite appalling that they would assign additional jobs to employees without compensating them. Managers are suppose be leaders, but in this case they lack any of those traits.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading these articles, the respect that I have for these establishments are gone. The amount of work that people into their job should be recognized and shouldn't be demoted because of their skin color or race. The management and the head of the company should be ashamed that their employees are being treated like this and legal action should be involved. Employees should not be losing their pay by being clocked out early while they are still working. I'm reluctant to go to Capital Grille ever again.
ReplyDeleteJP920
I was shocked to learn about the discrimination going on in Darden restaurants. It is alarming that such a well-known and large company can get away for so long treating their employees like that. I think it is very important that the employees are standing up for their rights and demanding justice. The Darden company should be held responsible for their injustices and should financially compensate all employees affected.
ReplyDeleteAs awful as these stories were to read and listen to I am glad that the employees are now doing something to stop it. Capitol Grille and Darden now face a huge public image problem being fueled by modern media and its going to be nearly impossible to now get there reputation back to where It used to be as well as huge costs financially to sales and retraining programs that I am sure that they will now need implement for all management staff.
ReplyDeleteThis is ludicrous, I can't believe the descrimination that is going on at Darden. I'm writing a paper on Darden for my Hospitality class and I was appalled when I read this article. Not only does Darden not pay there employees fairly but they discriminate against minorities. I think darden should write a formal apology to all there employees as well as compensating there employees for this atrocity. Only then will Darden be anywhere close to being a ethical company.
ReplyDeleteJro069
Jasper Riehm
After reading this article, I lost all my respect for Darden because how they are treating their employees. It should not matter what race the employees are because it just matters how they treat the customers. There should be no discrimination towards employees. Since there was, Capital Grille and Darden are now in a public eye for a huge problem. It makes me upset after reading and listening to some stories on how much work these employees put in and how they are not getting any recognition for it. I feel that no matter what race you are, you should be treated with respect and kindness.
ReplyDeleteCH1130
Darden should be ashamed of themselves. How can they let things like this happen? This situation about exploiting their employees is totally going to ruin their reputation and their business fast if it is not fixed immediately. They can't recover from this a 100% but they should try really hard to make their current employees and their costumers see that this situation will be corrected.
ReplyDeletePAP 1130
I was very surprised after hearing about all the negative experiences at Darden. There is no need to treat any employee so crudely. When hiring and employee they are expected to receive certain level of respect, and Dardon clearly isn't keeping up with their reputation. I have great respect for the people that are joining to stand up and fight against their discrimination. Dardon has a reputation to uphold, and they should be ashamed.
ReplyDeleteI have had personal experience with management clocking me out even though I was still working. So I feel like I can really relate to what some of these employees are saying. The people you hire are working as a team to make sure that your business is successful. Cutting their pay and treating them horribly gives them no incentive to do their job to the best of their ability. If you want to have a successful business you need to start with your employees. If your employees are not happy then the service they provide to your customers is going to be substantially lower in quality than a happy employee. This concept needs to be implemented into every business especially restaurants. As far as discrimination, restaurants are one of the biggest offenders when it comes to businesses. It is easier for them to get away with it and no one has done anything about it. It is about time that someone has stood up for these employees. They do so much for the company with very little in return if anything. Most business have to meet a quota for hiring a diversely. I think it is about time that restaurants should have to so something similar. Hearing this about a company makes me never want to support this company in anyway.
ReplyDeleteKC920 I am very sorry for what these people are going through. I have had a manager who treated women unfairly and gave them lesser hours and wages than the other male cooks. I think that making sure to take all complaints seriously from all employees is important, but also, not being afraid to fire people for having these biases and acting on them. I think that if the management of these companies and the one I worked for had been more closely monitored, then the occurrence of these events would be reduced greatly.
ReplyDeleteIt's disturbing to me how much Darden has gotten away with. After reading employees' stories and comments, I can't believe how terribly these workers were treated. When employees work hard and do their job, they deserve respect! Especially if they have been working there for a long period of time. A company cannot run properly if employees are not treated well. If these employees feel unappreciated, it creates a very hostile working environment- especially if their bosses or manager are disrespecting them. It's surprising to me how much the company has changed. I read that when Darden first opened, Bill Darden accepted everyone...but now in 2014 the company isn't doing that? It's very sad.
ReplyDeleteMG 920
With Capital grill being such a successful high-end restaurant I’m surprised to find out that they weren’t always fair to their employees. I have had similar experiences with being forced to work through breaks and not getting and time off, personally I think that has something to say about the workers. If they are being forced to work through breaks and being that mistreated and still keep the quality that made the Capital grill successful. I’m glad that they stood up for themselves and showed the public how they were being treated.
ReplyDeleteWW920
My first reaction was similar to a lot of these previous comments, however, did anyone read through the litigation?? It doesn't appear that racism was truly at the heart of the problem as the article suggests. It appears more to me like a company like so many companies in today's markets, looking to save more profits, cut employment, and be cheap about every which way they can because they KNOW they can. With the economy being as bad as it is they feel empowered to take advantage of employees to do more and get paid less. Don't like it? Go get a new job, we'll find someone who will. Now I'm not saying that race may not play into wage differentials, there is definitely the data to support that. But since when was anyone FORCED to work for Capital Grille?? They have used the fact that most of the people filing lawsuits are minority and used words like "forced". Nobody is being charged with being racist by those people who filed suits. Those people even say that no one WAS racist, but that the company practices and policies were? Ok, wouldn't that be discrimination by the company then? Where are the upper managers? Since when did not liking your job transgress into being able to sue for it? Why not express your distaste for what is being asked and if the employer does not respond, quit. All I'm saying is, reading the article makes it seem like some forced labor situation where they are all minorities and therefore a racist issue. When you look into the actual court documents you can see that it is more about unethical employment practices. Black, White, Hispanic....The DC Lawyers smelled blood on this one. A company with bad human resources seems more like it.
ReplyDeleteIts amazing to me that this is even an issue anymore, considering the amount of diversity in the United States these days. And even though the Capital Grill and Darden were caught mis treating employees, Im sure they are not the only company doing so. And hopefully with all of the employees filing lawsuits it will help set standards on how to fairly treat your employees.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to fathom that such a large-scale company treats their employees with such disrespect. Discrimination against minorities, awful salaries with almost no tips, being clocked out before they are done working shifts, lack of paid sick days, etc. It is unimaginable. As someone who works in a kitchen, I understand how hard these people are working and for what? To be clocked out early and threatened to be fired for taking a sick day? Especially since these are employees of a restaurant and work with food and could potentially get other sick. For example, Mario, who was an employee of Capital Grille for 7 years injured himself by falling down the stairs on the job and hurting his spine, was threatened to be fired if he were to take an unpaid sick day. UNBELIEVABLE. Carlos, who was a dishwasher for Capital Grille spoke about how they would have long days with no breaks, were denied the ability to have water on them while they are working, and would be clocked out early while they were taking out the trash. Every cent counts when you get paid so poorly and even being clocked out half an hour early can add up at the end of the week. The way Darden is running their business is unethical, and simply wrong in so many forms. I hope that Capital Grille and other Darden run companies learn to treat their employees with respect, and provide them with the proper salaries and benefits that they truly deserve.
ReplyDeleteKC11:30
it's very disappointing that these people have to go through, i don't understand why we still do these things to each other just by the color of our skins, they are still people looking for the same opportunities just like everyone else hear in america. ive worked with men and women that are away from their own country making $$$ for their families that they left behind. its very sickening
ReplyDeleteAfter working for Darden when I exited the Military I can tell you first hand Darden unfortunately has bad General Managers on their staff. The racist comments and illegal adjustments to peoples time clock hours are totally uncalled for and unprofessional. I hope there is a class action lawsuit that can bring justice to these victims and right the wrongs that have happened against these employees.
ReplyDeleteAs an established work group like this, you would expect more professionalism from them. I dont get that a company so big would try to screw over their employees by punching them out and making them work through breaks. A worker is at least required to get a half hour break during their shift and making them work through that unpaid is not right. These worker have to provide for their families and taking away that extra half hour adds up at the end of the week
ReplyDeleteThis article made feel very uneasy. Being such a big company and having many well known restaurants you would think that Darden would be more professional with how they treat their workers. How is discriminating against a certain race going to help their success. There is no reason for these actions other than unprofessional and unethical practices. Clocking out workers while they are still working is ridiculous. The workers are there to work in order to provide for their families, even clocking a worker out a half an hour early still adds up in the long run. Coming from working in the restaurant industry I see that most workers of other ethnicities other than white are harder workers so why punish the people who are doing more for the restaurant, just because they are a different color? This absolutely is not right and I am very supportive of the workers who are standing up and fighting back for their rights.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to any of these Darden establishments but I will think twice now about spending my money at a place that takes money away from its employees. I know how hard it is to work your butt off, but I know how rewarding it is to receive your paycheck. I would be furious if I worked during my break or after hours and did not get paid for it. Also, the fact that this company is firing its employees because of their skin color is absurd. Some of the best servers I have had have been of color, and I have met some terrible white servers. The color of a persons skin has nothing to do with their ability to be a great server. This company seriously needs to rethink the way it runs its establishments.
ReplyDeleteAA 9:08
I am completely baffled about what I read and saw from these videos about the company. You would think racism and all of that nonsense has ended but sadly it still exists today. I agree that things should completely change and the management position should change because it mainly comes from them. I wanted to play devils advocate on some situations. From Alex Pena, Elose, and Carlos by law they aren't required to give holiday pay, breaks, and or beverages while on the job. That is based mostly on the establishment/company. If you notice that you are clocked out by your chef or manager before you are suppose to clock out keep records or go home. By law they are to pay you by the fraction of the hour and you are to get paid while working. If they clock you out, you have the choice to go home because you're done for the day and if they have a problem with that then remind them of the fair labor laws. In Jose Henriquez video he talks about how he doesn't want to get fired and he asks the managers for a helping hand. 1. they are helping you out by giving a job and 2. if they treat you like garbage why not leave yourself. There are better places out there. Ignacio and Mario both had similar stories about injuries and they were told to work or get fired. If I had a spinal column injury and couldn't work and they told me I had to. Good bye because its not worth it at that point. Don't give in to them and come to work. It's a personal decision, either stay home and get better or knowingly go to work and get shitted on. Jay & Marcus were both the black servers that were fired and they talk about speaking up for justice. If there are people who choose to be quiet then its their choice. Frantz was the first story that talked about racism and saying how they had no black bussers but later in his story he mentions they had one black busser. Don't automatically assume and if it wasn't the position you wanted you could have left and found a place better. Sergio talks about how he felt discriminated because of his sexual orientation and mostly because he had no papers. If have no papers technically you aren't on their books and you're allowing them to treat you like this until you get those papers. The last video was Javier talking about taking more responsibilities than his job. Yes it sucks but its a helping hand. If you have time and there are things that need to be done then yes I would ask someone to do things because in the end we are all a team. So this was my thoughts on the videos trying to put another view on it. Most of these workers came here because the company offered great pay and what not. Once the workers noticed it wasn't they should have left, they should have spread the word about how horrible it was and yes create a campaign to end it. Now the real question is do they still want to work for a company that now 1. has a grudge on them for what they did 2. could slowly return to the old ways 3. flip the switch at any given time 4. fire them because of their biased opinions or do they want to leave a find a better place or company to work for?
ReplyDeleteI am glad that people are taking a stand for their rights. It was a terrible thing Darden corporation was doing and I am glad they are getting punished. I believe if they are to still exist as a company, they should have to rewrite all of their policies and show it infront of a judge to approve. They should also have occasional surveys for employees to fill out to make sure this is still not a problem and random check ups to stop it from happening. - Kaitlynn Johnson
ReplyDeleteI still can't believe in this day in age that people are still being discriminated against because of the color of their skin or because of their nationality. Especially when it is a huge corporation with many different restaurants. Having the reputation of treating employees in this way, of long work days with no break, overtime without pay and many others, and being such a huge company is not something that you want. Shedding this light onto this company will cause many customers dislike going to other places owned by Darden because who would want to support a company who treats their employees in this way. Darden definitely needs to write up different policies and make sure that all of their restaurants are following up on these policies. Then, there should be mystery check ups to stop this from ever happening again. The company should also donate certain proceeds if they want to help their public image and restore to the company people believed they were. As someone who has worked in a kitchen and in the front of house, time can sometimes slip by but my managers have always been certain to tell me to go on break. I can't imagine if after all my hard work, my managers would insist that I stay without pay or refuse to give me a break. I hope that there are not many other restaurants that are doing this to employees, especially because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteVC1130
MM1130
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that the problems and the lawsuit began with black servers being fired for "not meeting the standard," but they are suing the company for their policies and practices rather than racism or discrimination. I wonder why they would do that, maybe discrimination is harder to prove? But I doubt there would be any written Darden policy that states not to hire black employees, that would be incredibly foolish.
The article also says that employees of all races and all positions are being abused in other ways like being forced to work overtime without pay or reduced hours with the same amount of work. I wonder if it is happening equally among all races, or happening more to the black employees. If it is, they certainly have a case.
CA 140
ReplyDeleteI have worked for Darden for almost 2 1/2 years now and have not experienced any treatment as mentioned. Some time last year I did recieve a letter asking if I wanted to join the lawsuit if I had exeperienced anything similar. The bad press for Darden is not new, last yar they also recieved bad press for a health insurance fiasco. In the particular restaurant I work at employees to my knowledge are treated fairly equally based on race. Currently and in the past we have had managers from different backgrounds and skin colors. Much of front and back of the house is African American and treated equally. It is curious that all of the black servers were fired at the same time.
After taking Hospitality Law it opened my eyes up to types of discrimination with in the work place. It is hard to prove a single instance but with large amounts of publicity and a team of smart lawyers the case can be made. If injustices are taking place int the company I work for then I hope they are held accountable. CA 140
I think its good that this information is coming out and being brought to the public. I have worked in this field and have experienced some of the things that these workers are experiencing. I find it sad that big companies like this are trying to cut back by tricking their employees into believing that these extra tasks and duties are part of their job. Everyone should be compensated for the extra work they do. It is even worse considering that it is a big company. It might be a little more understandable if it was a mom and pop place that was going under and just could not afford to pay the extra help. The managers of these establishments are just trying to make the numbers look good on paper for the big bosses so that everyone can get their bonus at the end of the year
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly sad to see that discrimination is still a problem in this day and age. After reading these articles I would ever take a job from a company that has done such aweful things. These people were just trying to make a living and get by but Darden thought they just were not good enough... ad for what reason? The work place should be a safe environment were everyone is treated kindly and compensated properly. Darden should have a better human resources department that standardizes how employees are compensated and treated. Maybe that way something like this could be avoided. I am truly disappointed to here about this.
ReplyDeleteCEG140
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ReplyDeleteFor a Restaurant group like Darden to be so profitable and have a such a great image for food quality and standards but not and not offer basic benefits such as paid sick leave for their employees, goes to show how much they care for those who make their business as successful as it is on the surface. Its the waiters and bussers that customers see, those are the people that contribute to the continuing success of The Darden Restaurant Group. They deserve to be treated as human beings and not as if they're working for free. These people are out here trying to earn a decent living doing the things they're good at and in return they need to receive benefits and compensation for their effort. When a company says they're going to fire someone because it doesn't "fit their image" I have to think twice about giving them my money and contributing to their lack of respect for their employees
ReplyDeleteThis article was certainly eye opening to the fact that there is still a huge prevalence of discrimination in today's society. It is mind blowing that capital grille and Darden would even treat their employees in ways that should have ended decades ago, I feel like certain points in society are taking a step back when it comes to equal rights. After watching the videos about the employees experience at capital grille and some were denied water while working or capital grille would clock them out manually is sickening. Being African American and reading about this amount of discrimination especially in a hospitality type of business hits home and it is really sad that this could not have been stopped sooner
ReplyDeleteBryce Harvey FSM 7:10
The most unfortunate part about these articles is how many other restaurants there are in this day and age that do the same exact thing. They take advantage of the employees with entry level positions who can easily be replaced but need the job the most. It's truly unfortunate that such a large corporation that has so many employees in so many locations would sink so low to raise their own profits, but maybe people standing up to them and making it a problem will cause others to do the same.
ReplyDeleteLP140
I found this article really interesting because Darden owns a lot of different restaurants, however all of the complaints were specifically at Capital Grille. I am just shocked that managers in all of these restaurants did nothing at all to promote equality to their workers. Even if a manager works for a corporation, he or she should still care about the well being of their employees. It makes you wonder how many other locations of capital grille or even other restaurants owned by Darden are experiencing discrimination and abuse but are not coming forward.
ReplyDeleteI hate to see such discrimination even after all of the hard work many people have endured to see equal rights in our society. It sickens me to see that people think this way; that people think it is appropriate to treat a human being this way. I feel for these employees because I would never want to be treated this way in the workplace. I hope to see a happy ending for these employees and that Capital Grille and other establishments, not acknowledged, should change its management to help employees feel more welcomed and respected in the workplace and outside the workplace as well.
ReplyDeleteCJ1130
JD140
ReplyDeleteIt seems like most cases concentrate on the establishment Capital Grille. I wonder if other establishments are going through the same thing and employees are just scared to speak out. One because most of the workers do not have legal documents (as seen in the videos) and two because they are pessimistic and are afraid that the worst will happen like losing their jobs. As a child from an immigrant myself I know that discrimination in a kitchen and threats have been a common norm. Managers and Chef feel like they can take advantage of illegal workers since they believe they deserve no rights. The actions that ROC is taking seems amazing because they are helping out not only those who speak English and are discriminated because of skin color but also those who feel like they have no voice because they don’t speak the language. Like mentioned in other post; Darden Restaurants holds a high and proud name and it disguises me to see what their employees have to deal with. These things include being clocked out before they finish working, doing the job of 2 to 3 people and giving them no reward, no sick days not even unpaid, lowering the self esteem by allowing managers to be called “dumb and stupid”, no water and no breaks the saddest of them all is firing black servers because “they did not meet company standards”. I had no interest in Darden at all before but now I want to keep up to date to the day were they realize this issue must be taken care of. These conditions are inhumane and no one should have to go through this situation everyday at work or any day at all. It just isn’t right.
BP140
ReplyDeleteThese cases of discrimination are not right at the Capital Grill. There should never be cases like this, but unfortunately you can see that it has been an issue. What I want to know is the chef/management's point of view. I do understand that there were issues, but there must have been some sort of justification. With have been working in the restaurant industry for the past 2 years, I see simular issues like this. A lot of it has to do with communication. Regardless though, Capital Grill needs to treat their employees with respect. They need better training established because that would solve a lot of their issues. The Chef's clocking the employees out early because of budget cuts should not be taken out on these employees. They are still hard workers and should be paid and treated like so. Hopefully since this has been released, Capital Grill and Darden Restaurant group has taken control of the issue and stopped the discrimination.
Racism and discrimination in all forms are wrong and when reading many of these story's I was appalled by what these people were doing. They harassed allot of these employees even firing almost African american servers at their establishments. If anything this sickened me by the way they treated the people in their own restaurant team. If they fire any employees they should fire the managers for letting this happen and they should fire the people who mess with their time cards. The bottom line is that this shows some people trying to get up in the world that are getting shut down and I just think that's wrong.
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between discrimination and bad employment practices. Reading through the article I thought that this was an issue of racism, however as I read through the litigation filed, it seems as though it is more of an issue of pour employment practices. No racist comments are mentioned in the litigation from the employees. I feel as though the lawyers to make sure that it gets recognition in the press are playing this racism angle. The sad thing is that we as Americans don't really care about bigger corporations taking advantage of people (they have been doing it for years). We do however care about those who are being discriminated against because of their race. It is sad that they had to make it into something it is not to get the recognition that is deserves.
ReplyDeleteART140
I believe this treatment of workers is unacceptable. Employees at all of Darden Restaurants and all along Darden’s supply chain deserve to be given equal opportunities, to be fully and fairly compensated for their efforts, and to enjoy a safe and healthy workplace. This company need to change their policies to take care more employees who get different skin color and support human resourece department to train managers of each restaurants.
ReplyDeleteJHY 140
I find it amazing and appalling that stuff like this is happing in such well-known restaurants. You would think Places of there stature would be the leading example how great employee service is done. I think it says a lot about a company that step on the small people that help their company run to make more money at the top. Thinking back at my life, I have been to several of Darden’s restaurants multiple times for birthday parties, get together, or just eating out with my family. I never knew this what was going on behind the scenes. I believe these should be more publicly known, because the more people that stop eating there, the quicker they will change their ways.
ReplyDeleteRC140
This act by Darden is unbearable. As for me I will think 10 times before dining in to this restaurant. Everyone should have the right and fair treatment no matter we are black, white, yellow or any other color. These workers deserve to be treated in a better way. This cooperation and the higher management should sit together to make a change. This form of racism should stop.
ReplyDeleteXY 140
What Darden is doing is wrong on so many levels. The color of someones skin should have nothing to do with how they are paid or how they are promoted. If someone is a good and hard worker they should be paid the proper amount. Also clocking someone out while they are still working is so immoral that I can not even think that such a well known restaurant franchise would do such a thing. Management should not be allowed to clock someone out or tell them they are not allowed to take a break if legally they work the amount they are suppose to. It is appalling that they would treat their employees so dishonorably. I also disagree with firing an employee for asking for a few days off when they were hurt ON the job. If anything they should want them to take a few days off to get better so the restaurant doesn't get sued. Racism in the world really needs to stop. Everyone deserves to be treated as an equal. It does not matter if you are white, black or purple with green polka-dots, everyone deserves respect.
ReplyDeleteKMP 140
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ReplyDeleteDisgusted, this is the only word that can fully encompass all of my personal and professional feelings on the matter with Darden. Many of the acts can only be described as reprehensible. These people worked hard for the money they get. But that hard work was being rewarded by theft and detest. The company was taking there time and reducing it to save a few extra dollars. By the testimony of one of the individuals fired, "Darden makes millions of dollars a year" What justification can be made by these people do deny there workers there full hourly pay. Or to deny an injured employee time off and to threaten them with termination from the company. Or even the fact of keeping someone in the same position for two years doing the work of three people. What justification can there be for discrimination against people of different ethnicity or sexual orientation. There is none, there is no redemption and no excuse, Darden has betrayed its employees, and it has betrayed its image. Soon people will no longer tolerate these injustices, soon there will be resolution to this insurrection. I may not know all there is to know about life and business. But I do know that a persons roll in the work environment, no mater how seemingly small or large it is, is always vital. And all should be given the same respect and opportunity as the next person. Not everyone has to be the head chef, just not kitchen slave.
ReplyDeleteCTN 140
After reading the article, I could not believe these bad things were happening somewhere still now. The reason why I could not believe that.. I used to do my internship in a very small restaurant. There were two people for dishwashing, and the chefs, cooks, and servers treated them just like family. There is just one thing I really want to say.. they should be thank for them who work and help for them. They should be modest for earning much money from their business. Without people who are working for the company, there won't be honor for the company.
ReplyDeleteHS140
This article clearly shows the fact that the discrimination still remains as one of the most crucial issues in our society. I strongly believe that no matter what situation, this kind of act is not acceptable. Every individual deserves to have equal opportunities and receive a fair treatment without evaluating by different backgrounds or skin colors. The company should stop their current policies, focusing on their own profits, and change their policies while providing better training or compensation methods.
ReplyDeleteYJ 140
AB 140
ReplyDeleteI do find it a little strange that all of these cases are coming from Capital Grille when Darden owns several other franchises. But nonetheless, it disgusts me at how Darden treats it's employees based on the color of their skin. It is completely immoral for management to clock out employees and make them work for free. They have families to provide for and bills to pay just like the rest of us. Also, not allowing these employees to call out of work for a legitimate reason, such as an injury they received while at work, is absolutely ridiculous. Darden has to realize that it's with the help of dedicated employees that have helped make Darden as successful as they've been and discriminating against them isn't a way to repay them. I hope that with these lawsuits, Darden will realize that these practices they have now need to be changed and learn that it's not ok to discriminate against people.
I find it shocking that such a well known and well respected restaurant such as Capital Grille to be treating their employees in such a matter. It is absolutely absurd that we as a society are still racist and treating those who are not "white" in such an ill matter. To make comments such as someone being a "slave" and not allowing them to be a server due to conserving the companies image is absolutely disgusting. What ever happened to the saying, "do not judge a book by it's cover" ? It is also ILLEGAL to clock out employees who are still working, to not give breaks, and to not pay them for overtime or other jobs the company is obviously forcing the employees to do. The only reason why these employees put up with such ill treatment is because they have no other source of income and need to provide for their families. The company needs to understand that a successful business starts with happy employees.
ReplyDeleteSM140
This article directs Capital Grille and Darden. With the unfair treatment of people that did not fit " Capital Grille Standards". I am truly not surprised about this, especially it being more of a corporation. I personally witnessed this at a previous job. I don't think this is fair at all, who would enjoy doing more work for less money, I know i wouldn't. The employees respond by filing law suit which was completely understandable. Fighting for their rights and money is only right. If it's not like this corporations will continue for unfair treatment of certain employees. They need to pay for the damage they have done.
ReplyDeleteWC 140
I was surprised when I read the article. How the company, Darden, treats employees like that? The company should do what it has to do in a right way because it is very unfair to treat workers that way. The company should treat the employees with not a skin color, but proper level of respect. I still cannot believe this big and famous company does discrimination and clocking employees out in the operation. The company has to fully reflect on its conduct, and consider carefully upon all the employees said to the operation to get honest profits.
ReplyDeleteJS 140
At First, what surprising me the most, this was actually happening today, in 2011. Discrimination and Racism issues has been a very critical for more than 50 years, and I cannot believe some people still divide people by color. Where is human dignity? If this is really happening at Darden, It must be happening in other industries too, but the issues just have not came out yet. The most important thing to remember is whoever, you are employer, or employee, it is human to human. If this is going for lawsuits, Darden should be clearly states what the “Standard” is.
ReplyDeleteJAK710
Karla Lovo (Im not sure why the name on my google account is nicole)
ReplyDeleteAs a foreign person in the industry I can relate to such discrimination. I have had it at school with some snarky comments by my teachers and friends, and I have had it while on the job. It is disgusting for me to see any type of discrimination happen in the workplace. People should be judged based on skill, not on skin color, cultural background, or gender. The Darden restaurant chain should have some kind of sanction or fine to pay, as this type of problem should not be tolerated. If its not Darden's fault and just their general managers', they should be fired, and future people who are hired should go through some kind of cultural education program.
KL710
The Dignity at Darden website makes valid points adhering to the equality of employees in categories such as pay, working conditions, and other standard implications. The discrimination of pay in association with race or gender is so outdated it is unbelievable to see company's still doing this to people-equal pay for equal work, that's the law. Further more, story's such as Carlos' where he describes his dishwashing duties and how he was given no lunch breaks, water privileges, and was clocked-out early in return is mind-blowing to say the least. Dish washers are given the most responsibility, the dirtiest work, and the least respect amongst employers and fellow employees (this article implies). Action of the lawsuits and ROC groups are igniting the frustrated employees of establishments like Capital Grill, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden, (under the Darden Group) with confidence and legal assurance that what is being done to them is unjustified and deserves recognition. Darden Group needs to asses it's priorities and standards for their employees and for their own reputations sake. With their ethic questioned they loose respect from workers but most of the general public has yet to realize what is happening to fellow Americans everyday, theft, discrimination, and inequality. This issue needs to be vocalized and these companies should be reprimanded for their slimy ways.
ReplyDeleteMA920
It is absolutely appalling to see that even in today's working environment, there is still discrimination amongst employees for something as simple as the traits that one was born with. It shouldn't matter if an employee is a different color or gender, all people should be treated with the same respect. The very idea that a person is payed less than what is agreed, or taken advantage of in such a way is disgusting to say the least. It is common sense that those should be payed the amount that is agreed, and it destroys the employee-employer relationship to give any less than that. On top of this, there is the issue of human rights. To make employees work overtime, without paying them, and without any form of rest, is wrong. A company as professional and well-known as Capital Grille, and other Darden establishments, should know better. I am disappointed that this company went with such an unprofessional approach at running their businesses. I have great respect and support for those who were brave enough to stand up to such a large company, and hope they get all the money back that they may have lost over the years and more.
ReplyDeleteReading this article, I was disappointed that restaurants owned by Darden would conduct abhorrent and unprofessional behavior such as cutting their employee wages. Their employees are in a legal agreement with the company; they will do what the company asks as long as the company does what they agreed upon. Adding onto that fact, it appears that minority groups that work in these restaurants are being discriminated against and expected to do extra work for no extra compensation. Our predecessors fought for equality 50 years ago, this shouldn't have to be the issue anymore. Employees are expected to do their job and excel at it, there is no doubt about that. But, when management do not meet the expectations of its employees then it shows how much they care about the roots of its operation; none at all. Without a strong foundation, the structure will collapse and this WILL happen to Darden so long as they continue to discriminate their employees.
ReplyDeleteARG393
As a foreigner myself to this country I feel very empathetic to immigrant workers who aren't being treated right. Not being allowed to drink beverages during service, clocking out before the shift, not providing tips is very inhuman, greedy and distasteful for a popular restaurant such as the Capital Grille. I have dined at one of the restaurants and I did notice that all the servers including the hostess were white. There were no servers of other ethnicity. I am surprised that they do not fear getting punished by the law which is probably the reason why discrimination and inhuman behavior has been going on for such a long time. I can hope that the scenario changes because I being a culinary student myself, when I step out into the industry, I refuse to being treated in a similar manner with low wages, racial slurs and ill treatment.
ReplyDeleteais686
DeleteThese situations are nuts. I'm thoroughly bothered that some of these folks were often clocked out early and that some worked for free off the clock because of how decent these people seems. At my work there's this adorable Asian dishwasher and I feel as though my managers take advantage of him. He is fairly naive and is convinced (by the managers) that he is the only one capable of completing the tasks they ask for. In addition, several of my coworkers have worked at our company for over a year, and should have gotten raises. When theyd bring it up to my manager, he'd reassure them that he would enter that into the system but of course he's lazy and never does... One of my coworkers went over two months under the impression that she had been given her well deserved raise. She realized that her pay rate remained the same after having to get a paper copy of her pay stub.
ReplyDeleteManagement in corporate locations such as Capital Grill and my work have to get their heads together.
jaf926 (JF 9:20)
After reading the articles and listing to the interviews it is rather disturbing to learn this about such a large and successful company. The goal of a company is to make the largest profit but this is an unacceptable way to treat people regardless of how much money the company makes. Not only is Darden disrespecting their employees they are stealing from them. The biggest issues I have with these articles and interviews is the fact managers would overload one worker with responsibilities of that of 3 workers and that they would clock out workers while they were still finishing their shift. Many of the people interview said they were hired for one job and were expected to do the job multiple people, never being given help. Not only are the workers getting paid next to nothing compared to what is asked of them; but they are stealing from them making them work for free when managers clock them out while their still working.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest aspects of this industry that draws me to it is the focus of a team working together to accomplish a goal. It is rather difficult for me to read through this and see that such a large company isn’t treating their players with respect. I believe no matter if your executive chef, server, or dishwasher all positions on the field (in the restaurant) are important and as teammates we should be willing and want to help fellow players to achieve our common goal.
Mda748 Tu/Thur 9:05
I read shameful readings. I truly felt a discrimination in readings. Danden has shameful treatment to their staffs. How big or small companies are, I think that those treatment to staffs are not acceptable. The staffs have to find their right as soon as possible, and should be compensated by Danden. How can companies improve without staffs? JRL710
ReplyDeleteThe testimony that really struck me was that by Jared and Marcus from Capital Grille in Chevy Chase. It is appalling to me that this type of discrimination is still going on today. Darden should be ashamed of this. Both Jared and Marcus are very well spoken and qualified for their positions as we can see in the video, and it is troubling to think that in this day and age people can still be fired due to the complexion of their skin. When Marcus exclaimed: "Me personally, as a black man, discrimination is all I have ever known", that definitely struck a chord with me. I will definitely think twice before going out to eat at Capital Grille or any other restaurant owned by Darden.
ReplyDeleteSSL1130
After reading and listening about how the employees were treated during their time of working at Capital Grille, I find it disturbing. No one should be treated the way they were. A company making billions of dollars should be treating all their employees with respect and making sure no one is suffering. No one should be doing the job of 3 people and than get yelled at by a boss saying they are not working fast enough. Also, no one should be working with an infection since they could ultimately pass that along to the guests. The fact that this is happening in 2012 is even worse. I will never be going to any place that treats their employees like this.
ReplyDeleteHME1130
After reading this article and listening to the individual stories of Capital Grille's former workers, I no longer have respect for the people in charge of this establishment. It is a shame how such a big name and profitable establishment can be so crude and ignorant behind closed doors. In order to be a successful business an establishment must be able to embrace people of all kind and color. They should be able to use their knowledge and talent to further grow the business instead of keeping them in the back room and treating them like dirt. The fact that they had the nerve to say that having blacks in the front of the house did not fit the company's image just makes my blood boil.
ReplyDeleteJB 1:40 T/H
Sounds like they've got some serious beefs. Lawlz.
ReplyDeleteMGM 1:40 T/TR
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAbuse of the entry level employee is unfortunately an all too common in the world today. It’s gotten so out of control that they’re even making reality shows out of it now (restaurant impossible, Kitchen nightmares). Worst of all, a lot of these people can’t simple quit because they have whole families relying on them. At the very least these people have organizations that will help them have their voices heard.
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