Suit against catering firm at Comcast Center alleges racism

African-American cafeteria workers employed by a London-based catering company serving the Comcast Center have filed a $200 million lawsuit alleging supervisors practiced "Jim Crow segregation" and used racist and demeaning slurs.

The 11 current and former employees of the Compass Group filed the suit in federal court yesterday against Compass, two Compass employees and two related companies.

"Our clients have been called names such as 'chim-chim,' 'monkey,' 'gorilla' and 'the N-word,' " Kenneth P. Thompson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said yesterday at a news conference outside the Comcast skyscraper at 17th Street and JFK Boulevard.

Only four of the employees still work there. One employee said he felt forced to quit because of the racial slurs, and the other workers were fired after complaining of mistreatment, said Thompson, of the New York firmThompson, Wigdor & Gilly LLP.

Thompson also accused the catering firm of practicing "Jim Crow segregation" when it provided private catering service such as during the Democratic Governors Association meeting at the Comcast Center in July. He said black employees were "forced to work in the back by the kitchen or were excluded from staffing these events entirely."

Thompson said that Compass "brought in white" workers to staff special events.

Crystal Miles, a Compass employee still working as a coffee shop supervisor, said she heard the chef call black workers by derogatory names.

Miles, 32, said she had been denied promotions because of her race.

Benjamin Williams, 41, from South Philadelphia, said he was called "chim-chim," a derogatory term referring to a chimpanzee, many times by the head chef.

Williams said he repeatedly told the chef to stop calling him names. Finally, he said, he quit.

The Compass Group, considered the world's largest catering company, said it had not seen the suit and could not comment on specific allegations. However, it denied any pattern of discrimination.

"Compass Group has clear and strong policies that embrace diversity, inclusion and respect in the workplace, and prohibit any sort of behavior that is contrary to these values," the company said in a statement from its U.S. headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.

The plaintiffs named worked only at the Comcast building, but the suit was filed as a class action to include any black workers at other Compass Group sites, lawyers said.

Comcast Corp. was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The cable company said it has long supported workplace diversity and has "zero tolerance" for discriminatory practices.

"We have been in touch with Compass Group and have clearly articulated our zero-tolerance policy regarding any racial discrimination or insensitive behavior toward employees," Comcast said in a statement.

"This Comcast Center is made largely of glass, but there shouldn't be a glass ceiling for the people who work here," said Derek Sells, another attorney at the news conference. *