A former employee of steakhouse Nusr-Et (Nusret New York LLC) sued the restaurant for nationality-based discrimination; the lawsuit, originally filed in the New York County Supreme Court in November, was removed to the Southern District of New York on Monday.
The plaintiff is a resident of New York whose “national origin is Hispanic/Peruvian.” The restaurant, Nusr-Et is “the New York City branch of a high-end international steakhouse chain managed by a chef, Nusret ‘Salt Bae’ Gökçe, who is known for his dramatic serving style and Instagram stardom.”
According to the filing, Nusret “Salt Bae” is “a native of Turkey” and the restaurant’s management are also of Turkish descent. The plaintiff stated that in December 2017 he was hired as a server for the restaurant and “quickly established himself as a top performer amongst the service staff,” including being asked to become part of Nusr-Et’s Employee Hiring Committee. He trained servers and new hires and wrote the New Hire Employee Manual and Nusr-Et’s official Employee Training Manual.
However, according to the plaintiff, shortly after being hired he “realized that non-Turkish employees like himself, were treated less favorably than similarly situated Turkish employees at Nusr-Et.” For example, the plaintiff claimed that Turkish servers were given better tables to serve, “which resulted in them making more money for performing the same work.” Additionally, the plaintiff proffered that at the restaurant the Turkish employees were treated “more favorably” than the non-Turkish employees by the management, who would “protect poorly performing Turkish employees if non-Turkish employees spoke out regarding such poor performance or misconduct.”
The plaintiff claimed that tip pooling and distribution practices were “intentionally withheld from non-Turkish employees.” Reportedly, when the plaintiff asked about this practice, he was given a warning. Additionally, the plaintiff alleged that the management also had requirements that made him “extremely uncomfortable and contributed to a hostile work environment,” such as if customers asked if the meat was Halal, he “was instructed to tell them that it was, despite the fact that this claim was not true.” The plaintiff also claimed that he would serve celebrity friends of “Salt Bae,” but would not receive tips and when he took a video of musician French Montana, he was reprimanded, while other Turkish employees were not written up, despite also recording French Montana. The plaintiff averred that he was required to pay out-of-pocket when making a mistake while serving, adding that this was only required of non-Turkish servers.
According to the complaint, in September 2019, the plaintiff raised his concerns with management about “nationality-based discrimination and a hostile work environment at Nusr-Et.” After, as stated in the complaint, management responded “by reducing his hours, sending him home early on his shifts, and continuing to assign him to serve less desirable sections of the restaurant.” As a result, the plaintiff asserted that he made less money than the Turkish servers. The plaintiff also alleged that he was physically and verbally harassed by others at the restaurant.
As noted in the complaint, the plaintiff was terminated in March 2020 allegedly “in retaliation for speaking out against such nationality-based employment discrimination.” According to the complaint, when the restaurant reopened after being closed because of COVID-19, “other Turkish employees were rehired,” while the plaintiff was not, despite his strong performance.
The causes of action are nationality-based discrimination, maintenance of a hostile work environment and retaliation in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law as well as intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
The plaintiff seeks compensatory and punitive damages totaling $3.5 million for the seven counts, and an award for costs, fees and interest as well as other relief.
The plaintiff is represented by the Law Offices of G. Oliver Koppell & Associates. The defendant is represented by Gordon & Rees.
