Rosie Grant grew up in Trinidad, and came to America in 1969 looking for a better life. She worked in a fast food restaurant for twenty years, and was promoted to manager. In 1990 the restaurant chain she worked for was taken over by Hardee's Food Systems. Hardee's transferred Rosie to their Bethesda, Md. restaurant to work for general Manager Luis Moreno*.
Moreno, a ten year veteran with Hardee's, became increasingly abusive to Rosie in front of employees and customers, screaming at her and belittling her repeatedly. She was reduced to tears as Moreno humiliated her in front of everyone in the restaurant. In September 1994 Moreno crawled under a desk where Rosie was working and bit her on the leg. She was wearing a skirt. Outraged, Rosie demanded to know why he bit her; his response was "I feel happy . . . I'm going on vacation!"
Three weeks later Moreno grabbed her arm and bit her in front of witnesses. He would often grab her waist unexpectedly and perform a suggestive dance. The harassment and abuse continued for months, causing sleepless nights, nightmares and chest pains as Rosie kept this painful experience inside, telling no one but her best friend. Rosie waited until she and her husband were out of town to tell him about Moreno's abuse. His first reaction was to storm the restaurant and use Moreno's sphincter muscle as a garter. When he calmed down, they decided that Rosie should confront Moreno and demand that the sexual and verbal abuse stop immediately.
Moreno behaved professionally for three weeks after Rosie spoke to him before exploding again. Rosie called her Human Resources Director and her District Manager manager to complain about Moreno, but her District Manager ordered her not to speak to the Human Resources Manager about the complaint, a clear indication he intended to cover it up. Rosie and her husband faxed every executive at Hardee's headquarters a five page letter detailing Moreno's behavior; they sent letters to Hardee's C.E.O., Vice President for Human Resources, Regional Manager and Operations Manager.
Hardee's response to Rosie's Letter of 11-17-94 was to interview several dozen of Rosie and Moreno's co-workers; twenty of them were Hispanics who could barely speak English. Hardee's executives had Luis Moreno translate the statements of these twenty employees about whether he was abusive to them or to Rosie! Based on this they told Rosie that no one would "back up her story" that Moreno was abusive. She told them that she would do whatever she had to do to prove that she had been abused. Within days she and her husband had spoken to Washington attorney Eric Steele Esq., who agreed to take Rosie's case on a contingency basis.
On December 2, 1994 Rosie's Regional Manager Martin Tarrell* (*names have been changed to protect the guilty) came to the restaurant and took Rosie next door to the Hot Shoppes to speak privately about her complaint. "He told me that Moreno had made a mistake, that he (Moreno) was now branded as a sexual abuser, and that I should 'let bygones be bygones'. Tarrell then threatened to terminate me if I discussed the abuse I had suffered with anyone outside the company. I asked him 'Are you threatening me?', he just lit his cigarette and didn't answer".
A month later District Manager Hakan Y***** stormed into the store and threatened to fire the management staff, the second of five times Hardee's executives threatened to fire Rosie. In a rage he yanked an electrical cord out of the wall, causing a heavy metal timer to fly straight at Rosie's head; she had to duck to keep from being injured. By that time Moreno had quit, and was replaced by Tracy Skeen, the first black female manager Rosie had ever worked for at Hardee's. She proceeded to write Rosie up for everything she could think of, including a claim that "the salt and pepper shakers are crooked". Rosie had never been written up once in twenty years with Hardee's; Skeen wrote her up seven times in four months. Skeen was later taken out of Roy Rogers in handcuffs and prosecuted for theft; she was eventually convicted.
Rosie's twentieth anniversary with the company was on February 16,1995; three months after her complaint. Unlike earlier anniversaries, not one Hardee's executive said a word; no congratulations, no party, no cake, no restaurant passes . . . nothing. Skeen then gave Rosie a negative evaluation, the first negative evaluation she had received in twenty years. Rosie responded with a letter to Hardee's C.E.O. Robert A*****. Hardee's response to Rosie's Letter of 4-4-95 was another phony investigation, this time by Regional Human Resources Director Al Hornish*.
Rosie's restaurant was closed in June 1995 and she was transferred to another Hardee's in a crime-ridden neighborhood in downtown Washington, D.C. Her new manager, Myrtle Jones, stole twenty dollars out of Rosie's purse which was inside the store safe on the first day she worked there. Jones then told Rosie that she was mistaken; "Nobody steals up in here!" she said. Rosie wrote Hardee's executives and their Loss Prevention Department, notifying them that there was a thief in her store's management and that Rosie would no longer leave bank deposits in the safe at night "where they could be stolen by a dishonest person with the safe combination". Hardee's response was to write Rosie up for leaving employees in the store while she made a special trip to deposit their money in the bank. Jones later stole more than $23,000.00 worth of store deposits and disappeared, the F.B.I. is probably still looking for her.
Before she ran, Jones wrote Rosie up a dozen times for minor infractions. Manager Carolyn Walker yelled at Rosie that she was not wanted there and that she should get a new job. Walker threatened to "Fuck you up!" and stormed out of the restaurant; she probably is the person who spray painted Rosie's car that night in the restaurant's parking garage. Both Jones and Rosie's next manager Linice J***** carried on a sexual relationship with the same male superior, who organized cabarets and card parties which had "sex rooms" where married employees engaged in sex with teenaged female co-workers.
In February 1995 Rosie and her lawyer filed a complaint with the E.E.O.C charging Hardee's with sexual harassment. While the complaint was being considered, the company was limited in the disciplinary actions it can take against someone who has filed an E.E.O.C. claim. Sixteen months later the E.E.O.C gave Rosie the right to sue Hardee's.
From the very beginning Hardee's executives refused to talk to Rosie's husband about what they were doing to her. "I won't talk to him" District Manager Hakan Yavalar said on November 17, 1994, "He has the prerogative to do anything he wants to do!" By July of 1995 they had changed their minds, and executives met with Rosie and her husband in a Maryland Hardee's. Regional Human Resources Manager Al Cornish and District H.R. Manager Doug Kramer presented a four page document stating that Rosie was confused about being harassed and she had mistaken innocent behavior as retaliation. When Rosie's husband tried to refute these statements, Hornish interrupted him repeatedly with statements about how he (Cornish) had "too much integrity to lie about the matter".
Rosie's husband asked Cornish to stop making these statements because he hadn't brought his boots to the meeting; but Cornish continued to swear that he was a "Man of Integrity". Rosie's husband told Cornish "It's getting a little too deep in here; I didn't bring my hip waders. Please let's talk about the issues!" Cornish ignored him and said "If you knew me, you'd know I was a Man of Integrity!" Rosie's husband then critiqued Cornish's performance, stating that his "body language is pretty good, but your eyes keep flickering a bit too much . . . it ruins the effect". Cornish and Kramer then stormed out of the meting, leaving nothing resolved. Rosie's Letter of July 16, 1995 told Cornish that she wouldn't bother him again with her complaint.
In July of 1996 Rosie and her attorneys Eric Steele and Nkechi Taifa filed suit against Hardee's in Washington, D.C. Superior Court. Her husband researched the fax numbers of three hundred news outlets; TV, radio and newspapers from Canada to South America, and faxed them all a half dozen press releases about the lawsuit. Rosie was interviewed on local Washington TV news, and written up in dozens of articles that were printed in newspapers from California to Trinidad. In the spring of 1997 both sides held depositions, questioning witnesses under oath to determine what their testimony would be. Hardee's lawyers deposed Rosie for three days, totally twenty four hours; this was longer than O.J. Simpson's deposition. In September 1997 the judge presiding over the case held a pre-trial hearing.
In 1997 Hardee's sold the restaurant chain she works for to McDonald's for almost $300 million less than Hardee's paid for it. Hardee's itself was purchased in the summer of 1997 by a California burger chain. Rosie has been under a doctor's care since December 1994, and her recovery is progressing. The recurring nightmares and chest pains have stopped, and Rosie is now very happily employed as a McDonald's manager in a Maryland restaurant.
In October 1999 an out of court settlement was agreed upon in Rosie Grant's lawsuit against Hardee's.
Rosie Grant
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