Pregnant bartender denied Charlotte movie theater job gets over $100K in settlement
When a pregnant bartender reported a Charlotte cinema for discrimination, the theater doubled down and refused to re-hire her. Now it must pay her $137,000.
Naidaisha Gaston, 26, worked at Charlotte’s Cinergy dine-in movie theater. The luxury theater has 10 screens, recliner chairs with swivel tables, a kitchen and a full bar.
The vice president of the Cinergy Entertainment Group Inc. — which owns nine theaters in four states — told Gaston they “would not hire her because [she] had previously filed a Charge of Discrimination” against the theater, according to a federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
That violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a news release Monday. Now, Cinergy must pay $137,000 “and provide other relief” to settle the lawsuit filed by the commission.
Title VII protects individuals from the kind of workplace retaliation Cinergy showed.
“When an employer takes an adverse employment action against an employee because the employee exercised her right to file a charge of unlawful discrimination, it has a chilling effect,” said Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the Charlotte District. “Other employees are then hesitant to come forward to report discrimination.”
Cinergy did not reply to request for comment before publication.
Charlotte movie theater retaliation lawsuit
Gaston worked the theater’s bar from July through October 2022, according to the EEOC lawsuit.
When she told her general manager she was pregnant, she was fired for “alleged policy violations,” the lawsuit states. In March 2023, she filed a discrimination complaint. In December 2023, she applied for the theater’s open bartender position.
When she asked about the status of her application, the general manager asked her if she had filed the discrimination charge. Her identity had previously been protected under Title VII policy.
The manager said he would not rehire her and referred her to Cinergy’s vice president, who is not named in the lawsuit. The vice president told her she would not be re-hired because she had filed the discrimination charge. The vice president also told her to never apply again, according to the lawsuit.
That discrimination charge did not progress to a lawsuit, commission spokesman Victor Chen previously said. The now-settled lawsuit focused solely on Cinergy’s refusal to rehire Gaston because she filed a charge against them.
According to federal laws, it is unlawful to retaliate against applicants or employees for filing or being a witness in an EEOC charge, complaint, investigation or lawsuit.
This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
