ALLEGED IRONY: Taco Bell Employee Fired for Hiring Latino Workers

Juanita O’Connell, a former manager of Taco Bell is suing the popular chain. The reason for her lawsuit is that she claimed to have been fired for hiring Hispanics. Wait, what? According to Courthouse News, one of O’Connell’s supervisors saw a Latino employee working at the store she managed. Allegedly, the supervisor told O’Connell, “Didn’t I tell you not to hire Hispanics?”

HuffPo reports that Taco Bell has denied any allegations of the statement, though they are launching an investigation to gather all the facts. O’Connell’s attorney Joel Paul told the Post that O’Connell’s area coach had already told her to stop hiring Latinos before the incident in question occurred. She continued to do so, however, believing this to be a discriminatory practice.

Paul also mentions that two weeks after the incident, O’Connell’s supervisors came to the Indianapolis store to punish her for violating an E-Verify procedure, an online system that determines eligibility to work in the US, that may have happened when she hired an undocumented worker. The supervisors wrote O’Connell up and fired her hours later.

The 60-year-old O’Connell is currently suing the chain for back pay and damages. She had been working at Taco Bell since 1987. Ironically, the chain is best-known for their Mexican cuisine-inspired menu.