Shaquana Battle alleges in her lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of New York, Bronx County, that her coworkers and manager regularly used the N-word while addressing her. Battle approached the store manager about this and he told her, “People don’t mean anything by it. We all grew up in the ‘hood,’” the lawsuit notes.
After her complaint, the manager did not direct employees to stop using the slur and also continued using it himself, according to Battle’s suit.
Battle reached out in March 2018 to Glenda Greogira, an HR employee at Pret A Manger’s corporate office. After Greogira spoke with the employees, she allegedly told Battle to “try to go about her business and avoid drama," the lawsuit notes. Later, Greogira confirmed that “inappropriate language” was used and that it was a hostile work environment, according to the lawsuit.
Pret A Manger has 500+ stores globally, including 85 in New York City.