A fired manager at Justin Timberlake’s Southern Hospitality has filed a lurid sexual discrimination suit – claiming the restaurant utterly failed to live up to its name.
It’s the second time in six months the singer’s upper East Side barbecue joint has been sued by a former employee.
In the latest legal battle, aspiring actress Alison McDaniel claims Timberlake business partners Eytan Sugarman and Ronnie Kaplan are guilty of “vile and discriminatory conduct.”
McDaniel, 29, said her job as general manager became an X-rated nightmare in which she was spit on, pelted with expletives and subjected to porn.
“In at least one instance, defendants Sugarman and Kaplan viewed … pornography while in a locked room with McDaniel and made fun of her when she began crying,” the suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court claims.
A publicist for Southern Hospitality had no comment. Timberlake and best friend Tracy Ayala are also named as defendants.
McDaniel alleges other female workers endured racist comments. A hostess who was fired was nicknamed “that ghetto girl at the door,” the court papers say.
McDaniel, who worked at the Second Ave. restaurant for a year, was fired after she wrote a memo complaining of the harassment, the suit claims.
Her lawyer said she did not file a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission before filing suit Thursday.
In a federal case filed in November, a busboy claimed Southern Hospitality employees weren’t getting their fair share of tips and overtime.
(source)
