Three Black workers at a Little Caesars Pizza in Mount Vernon, Washington, were called racial slurs, including “darky” and “slaves,” and endured other racial harassment from white managers, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the franchise owner.
The EEOC is suing Target Market Enterprises, Inc., which owns nine Little Caesars Pizza restaurants in western Washington, on behalf of Brethny Espinosa and two other Black crew workers at the Mount Vernon Little Caesars who allege they faced a hostile work environment and retaliation for speaking up about it in the complaint, obtained by Atlanta Black Star.
When she was hired in August 2024, Espinosa’s daily tasks included making and preparing pizza dough and cleaning up the restaurant, where she and other crew workers were supervised by the general manager, and when he left for the day, the shift lead, the lawsuit explains.
One shift lead identified in the lawsuit as “J.G.” and a crew member “A.G.,” who were both “non-Black,” subjected Espinosa and two Black employees to frequent, offensive, and unwelcome race-based conduct including calling or referring to them as: ”the N-Word,” “slaves, “blacky,” “darky,” and “monkey,” the complaint alleges.
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J.G. also allegedly made two Black workers do “the most menial tasks,” such as washing dishes for their entire shift.
The Little Caesars general manager, who is white, was already aware that an employee had previously complained that J.G. had used the “N-Word” at the Mount Vernon restaurant in September 2022, when he was not disciplined, and that he again used the slur “loud enough to be heard by customers” twice in March 2024, when she issued him a written warning, but didn’t inform the regional manager, the lawsuit says.
By August 2024, a white co-worker in the restaurant was so offended by J.G.’s use of racial slurs directed at Espinosa and the two other Black workers that she complained to the general manager. When J.G. continued to spew the slurs unabated, she complained again and was allegedly told by the general manager that she “would just need to deal with it.”
Meanwhile, in September 2024, one of the Black employees told J.G. that they were offended by their coworker A.G.’s repeated use of the N-word, but J.G. took no action to stop A.G.’s use of the slur. That same month the general manager promoted A.G. to be a shift lead.
On Sept. 27, 2024, Espinosa also complained to the general manager about J.G and A.G.’s racist comments to her and two other Black employees. When he took no action to investigate it or stop their behavior, Espinosa complained about J.G. to the regional manager three days later.
The regional manager investigated Espinosa’s complaint and fired J.G. the same day, on Sept. 30, 2024.
But one of the Black workers continued to be called racial epithets by A.G. at the Mount Vernon restaurant in October 2024, despite that worker asking him to stop and complaining to two other shift leaders, the lawsuit says.
Frustrated by the Little Caesars management’s failure to take any steps to stop his harassment, the Black employee wrote a Post-It note that said, “[A.G.] hates Black people” and put it in “a private area of the restaurant accessible only to employees.”
That Black employee who complained was swiftly fired due to “using inappropriate language” in “a note left on a desk,” according to a written warning from the franchisee management issued the day before. The plaintiffs’ lawyers now deem that termination to be unlawful retaliation based on race.
The lawsuit also accuses Bellingham, Washington-based Target Market Enterprises, doing business as Little Caesars Pizza, of violating federal civil rights law by subjecting Espinosa and her two Black coworkers to racial harassment and a hostile work environment. It does not name the global pizza chain’s corporate franchisor, Little Caesars Enterprises, based in Detroit, as a targeted party.
The plaintiffs seek a jury trial to determine compensatory damages for past and future monetary losses of the Black employees resulting from the alleged unlawful practices, including emotional pain and suffering, as well as punitive damages.
The EEOC also asks the U.S. District Court judge for the Western District of Washington to order the restaurant group to correct its “offensive, abusive, intimidating and hostile work environment” and to institute policies and practices that provide equal opportunity for all employees and eradicate the effects of its past and present unlawful employment practices.
“Federal law requires employers to promptly investigate any incident where an employee has been targeted with slurs based on his or her race, and to take immediate steps to stop such offensive conduct,” said Elizabeth Cannon, director of the EEOC’s Seattle Field Office, adding that the restaurant franchisee’s “failure to consider the harasser’s prior use of this highly offensive racial slur in the restaurant is appalling.”
The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 30, but action in the litigation was then held up by a lack of funding for the EEOC due to the federal government shutdown, which began at midnight on that date. The order lifting the stay in the case was issued on Dec. 3.
Target Market Enterprises now has until Feb. 2, 2026, to respond to the complaint. The company and its attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Atlanta Black Star.
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