A Black woman who was fired from her job as a server at a country club restaurant near Philadelphia says its staff and management racially discriminated against its Black customers and employees, and that she was terminated after complaining about it.

In her lawsuit, Amanda Tucker says soon after she starting working at Tavola Restaurant + Bar, an Italian-style eatery overlooking the golf course at Springfield Country Club, in September 2021 it quickly became apparent that its management fostered a racially discriminatory environment.

White employees frequently made disparaging jokes about Black people, refused to wait on Black customers and, she alleges, would force Tucker and her sister, who also worked there as a server, to take all the tables with Black customers.

That included beloved, Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles player Brandon Graham, whom Tucker says was shunned by a white server, Joe Christina, who had a habit of making insulting jokes about Black people and refusing to wait on them.

Tucker says restaurant managers knew about Christina’s “demonstrably racist behavior” but did not discipline him for it.

Once when a group of Black diners were seated at a table, a white server, Kristina Pasquella, allegedly asked Tucker and her sister, “Hey, are those your cousins?” in the presence of their supervisors.

Instead of addressing the inappropriate and offensive statement “rooted in a racially offensive stereotype,” the restaurant managers “responded with laughter, thereby endorsing the conduct and perpetuating the racially hostile work environment,” the complaint says.

On another occasion, Tavola’s floor manager Jacqueline Wagner allegedly told Tucker that the braids in her hair looked “ghetto,” which the lawsuit says was “demeaning “and “racially charged.”

Tucker says when she was stiffed by a group of diners who left the restaurant without paying their bill, her managers made her personally cover the cost, but did not impose that requirement on white servers when their customers left without paying.

Instead, managers routinely comped such bills for white servers, demonstrating a pattern of disparate and discriminatory treatment based on race, she argues.

Tucker says she and her sister were routinely assigned less favorable sections than white servers, resulting in being “systematically denied equitable opportunities to earn higher tips.”

As an example, Tucker says a group of 20 golfers came into the restaurant and sat in her assigned section, and a white server went over to greet the table. When Tucker questioned this with the white server and her manager, she says the manager decided the white server could keep the table.

In their answer filed on March 31, the owners of Tavola, Snow Crab Dining, LLC, take issue with her account of the twenty-top table.

They allege that the white server approached the table only after it seemed the guests were waiting too long for service, and took their drink and appetizer orders. Tucker was told by the manager that their check could be transferred to her and that she could serve that table moving forward, after tipping out the other server. But Tucker refused to follow the manager’s instructions and did not transfer the check, which led to some extra follow-up by the general manager with the customers to resolve their bill. As he did so, the answer says, Tucker “yelled and cursed at him in the presence of guests and staff.”

Tucker says she reported the ongoing discrimination and harassment occurring at Tavola directly to her managers, telling them that the racial profiling and discrimination was severe and pervasive, and causing her emotional distress. She claims they failed to investigate or to take any remedial action in response.

Frustrated, she resorted to speaking directly with Nancy Steinmetz, the executive vice president of Springfield Country Club, about the differing treatment she was receiving but this failed to lead to any improvement, she says. (Springfield Country Club is not a named party in the lawsuit).

Instead, the staff and management of Tavola retaliated against her, Tucker claims.

Wagner and her coworkers began referring to Tucker as a “snitch” and a “rat” because of her reports of ongoing harassment, she says. Wagner allegedly approached a service station where Tucker and two other coworkers were standing and said, “Don’t say anything in here; you’ll end up in H.R. There’s snitches and rats around.”

Tucker claims Wagner’s comments were “transparently meant to dissuade her from making any further reports” regarding the harassment and discrimination occurring at the restaurant.

Following her complaints to management, Tucker claims her managers assigned her fewer sections to work in the restaurant, further diminishing her earning capacity.

When the mistreatment became unbearable, the lawsuit says, Tucker requested a meeting in June of 2023 with her supervisors that included the human resources manager, during which Tucker became “visibly emotional” as she discussed the racial prejudices she had endured.

During the meeting, manager Sophie Portnoy became defensive and stormed out of the meeting without addressing her concerns, the complaint alleges. When Portnoy returned, she brought with her a Black kitchen employee, and “put him in an uncomfortable position by repeatedly asking, ‘Am I racist?’ and ‘Do you think I’m racist?’”

Portnoy’s actions were “clearly intended to undermine Plaintiff’s ability to report the discrimination and harassment she had experienced,” the lawsuit says.

Another manager walked out of the meeting, refusing to hear the rest of her concerns and “effectively silencing” her, the complaint alleges. The defendants, which include Snow Crab Dining, LLC and three named managers, collectively failed to acknowledge or investigate any of the ongoing discrimination or harassment, Tucker says, and made it clear they had no intention of addressing her complaints.

Tucker says she continued to report ongoing discrimination to management over the next month, and was shocked when she was abruptly terminated on July 23, 2023.

Her lawsuit claims violation of state and federal laws against racial discrimination, retaliation and maintaining a hostile work environment. She seeks a jury trial to determine compensatory and punitive damages for her loss of income, bonuses and benefits, as well as for emotional and physical distress and humiliation.

In their answer, the restaurant’s owners deny all of Tucker’s allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation, and claim that she was fired for legitimate reasons unrelated to her race. They allege that Tucker “was insubordinate and demonstrated misconduct, including but not limited to yelling and abusive language and profanity in the presence of guests and staff.”

The answer also notes that Tucker’s sister continues to work at Tavola as a server and bartender.

Regarding the “emotional” meeting between Tucker, her supervisors and the HR manager cited in the complaint, defendants say the meeting actually happened in May of 2023 and was called by management to address Tucker’s “refusal to heed verbal warnings about her handling of bills and tips of parties of six or more guests.”

During the meeting Tucker “made a false accusation to Ms. Portnoy about being a ‘racist,” the answer says, and “an African-American employee who worked in the kitchen was asked by Ms. Portnoy to step into the room. … The kitchen employee refuted Plaintiff’s accusation that Ms. Portnoy was ‘racist’ when asked.”

Noting that “Defendants are committed to a work environment free from all forms of unlawful discrimination,” the defendants argue that Tucker failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, that she failed to take advantage of corrective opportunities the restaurant provided, and that Tavola’s management and staff did not engage in any unlawful employment practices.

It asks the court to dismiss the complaint.

A week after the lawsuit was filed, Tavola said in a statement, “We are deeply committed to fostering a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for both our employees and guests. Any suggestion otherwise is upsetting to us and does not reflect our values and how we operate.”

Tucker’s attorney Nathaniel Peckham did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Atlanta Black Star.

‘Racist Behavior’: Philly Country Club Sued for Letting White Servers Ignore Black Guests While Forcing Black Employee Who Was Called ‘Ghetto’ to Personally Pay for Dine-and-Dash Tables