Gregorys Coffee CEO Gregory Zamfotis Accused Of Bigoted Behavior And Business Practices – CoffeeTalk

Gregorys Coffee, a New York City-based coffee chain, has been sued by former human resources director Jessica Day, who claims that the company’s CEO, Gregory Zamfotis, denigrated and mocked Black employees, paid them thousands less than their white colleagues, and fired an assistant manager for no reason other than the color of her skin. Day, who had previously been an executive at Starbucks, began her tenure at Gregorys in June 2022 and soon observed “blatant violations” by Zamfotis of labor and discrimination laws.

One of the first issues she confronted was Zamfotis’s refusal to allow a Black assistant manager to return to work following what Day’s suit describes as a “lawful leave of absence.” Zamfotis’ reasoning was that she was a ‘bad’ employee, the complaint states. When Day pushed Zamfotis for actual information demonstrating poor performance, the most he could muster was that he did not think she smiled enough. Yet, an actual store manager that this employee worked under ranked her as a top employee and described her as ‘amazing.’ And indeed, there was not a shred of documentation of any performance issues.”

Day pushed back, telling Zamfotis that the company had a legal obligation to reinstate the manager. Begrudgingly, the most Zamfotis would allow was for the employee to be sent to a different location under the pretense of her having to be’retrained,’ according to the complaint. Day later became fixated on the chain’s only Black executive after she took medical leave for a condition that required a hospital stay, the complaint continues. He described her “as another ‘bad’ employee,” the complaint goes on, and says Zamfotis even wanted to ensure that the employee would not receive any compensation while she was on leave, despite the fact that she was entitled to use paid leave.

Black employees were also subject to significant pay disparities, according to Day, whose complaint points to a white, male barista whose $75,000 salary — which was authorized specially by Zamfotis — was $20,000 more than that of the barista’s manager, a Black woman who held that store’s top position. As before, Day informed Zamfotis that this almost certainly constituted a legal violation, but, as before, he “would not relent.”

By mid-December 2023, Day had seen enough, and she repeatedly told Zamfotis that “he was engaging in ‘textbook examples of what is against the law,’” and that he was “going to get the sh*t sued out [of] you.” But, as before, Zamfotis didn’t listen. “Day decided that she could no longer work at a company where her protests were ignored, her department was being used or bypassed to effect unlawful conduct, and where discrimination and sexism permeated the environment,” the complaint says.

Read More @ The Independent