In an action filed in the United States District Court last week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against a Clearwater strip club for racial discrimination against a bartender.
As alleged in the complaint, Quatavia Harden was terminated at the request of club owner Michael Tomkovich. According to the complaint, Tomkovich instructed then supervisor Patrick Franke to fire Harden because he did not want black people to be the face of his club. Franke voiced his concerns with this request to both Tomkovich and a supervising regional manager. Both Harden and Franke were terminated from the strip club.
As detailed in this article, evidence in support of the discriminatory actions by club management is a text message from the regional manager instructing Franke to fire Harden.
“In this case, it just appears that he was intent on not having African-Americans be the face of his business,” stated senior trial attorney for the EEOC Aarrin Golson. “We feel this way about any establishment that takes the stance that it’s not going to have African-Americans be part of the organization. It’s a big issue especially in light of (this week) being the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. It’s kind of ridiculous that 50 years later, we’re still battling these issues.”
If you or someone you know thinks they have experienced discrimination due to race, the team at Radford & Keebaugh can help.Contact us by phone at (678) 369-3609 or use our contact form.