Ammon Chick-fil-A faces racism lawsuit
Ariel Jensen
Ammon, Idaho (KIFI) — Chick-fil-A in Ammon is facing a lawsuit after a former employee says he endured racist abuse by co-workers and supervisors.
Court documents show Thomas Wade, an African-American, is suing Ammon Chic-fil-A franchisee Lauren Mosteller for race and color discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The documents indicate the harassment came from three Chick-fil-A employees related to Mosteller.
Wade began working at the Ammon Chi-fil-a in December 2022, according to the court document timeline. He was hired as a cook and placed in the “back of house” crew. Shortly after being hired, Wade applied for the leadership development program, but was not admitted. The job of shift lead was given to a white employee.
On March 23, 2023, Wade stepped in when two employees – one of them his supervisor’s son – were “antagonizing another employee.” Court documents allege one employee said, “Shut up ape before I put you in a cage.” When Wade said he would report the behavior to management, one employee shot back with “monkey-looking-ass” and “my parents own this store.”
Wade says he reported the incident to his supervisor and the other employee’s father, Eric Ibarra, but Ibarra did nothing, according to the complaint.
The next day, Wade met with the General Manager and the Back-of-House Director and told them what had happened. The General Manager apologized, then said, “It was not as bad as if someone like her had said it.” The General Manager is white.
No one was disciplined for making racist comments or for the supervisor’s failure to report the comments to upper management.
Wade took two days off work to have some space. Documents say when he returned, “several members of the Ibarra family resumed making racist comments, which occurred over the next seven months. Wade made 25 to 30 reports about racist comments co-workers made to him or in his presence.
Some of the comments from Eric Ibarra, his son, as well as other co-workers, included calling Wade “ape,” “monkey,” “n-word,” and “antique farming equipment.” They also told Wade they would put him in a cage. They would also remark to each other, “Of course he works at Chi-fil-A, so he loves chicken.”
Court documents go on to say that Wade walked in on one of the Ibarras whipping another employee with a towel while the employee said “Please, master, I’ll work harder.” One employee told Wade he would know about getting whipped since he is black.
Wade says he was consistently called “blackie,” “n-word,” and “monkey.” Court documents indicate nothing was done when he spoke to management.
On June 11, 2023, Wade made an appointment to speak with management about the incident on March 23, Waiting outside the office, he heard one of Eric Ibarra’s daughters say, “Look like a monkey, act like a monkey.” Wade told her to repeat what she just said, and she repeated the remark. Management said they would speak with the co-workers, but nothing changed.
A racial slur was also written on the freezer on July 23, 2024. When Wade reported it to management, he was told, “If he wanted to be shift lead, he needed to get along with the Ibarra family because several of them were in leadership positions and she couldn’t fire them.”
Mosteller’s attorneys filed a response in court denying the allegations.
Local News 8 reached out to Wade, who agreed to meet with us and give us more information after discussing details with his legal consultant.