Former Topeka employee claims Mexican-owned Bimbo Bakeries discriminates against Hispanics
A Hispanic former employee at Topeka's Mexican-owned Bimbo Bakeries plant says in a lawsuit that he was fired after alleging it was "ridden with discrimination" against Hispanics.
Attorneys representing Juan C. Roman, 44, filed the three-count civil suit April 23 in U.S. District Court in Topeka seeking $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc., the American arm of the Mexican bakery product manufacturing company Grupo Bimbo.
Attorneys Bruce Alan Brumley and Chloe Elizabeth Davis filed the suit. It demands a jury trial and alleges one count each of racial discrimination, harassment on the basis of race resulting in a hostile work environment and retaliation for exercising Roman's "legally protected opposition to a workplace ridden with discrimination against his race."
Roman worked from 2014 to 2022 at the Topeka facility Bimbo operates, the lawsuit petition said.
"We condemn racism and injustice in all forms and are committed to fostering an environment of diversity, equity and belonging in our workplace," Bimbo Bakeries said in a statement it provided Monday to The Capital-Journal. "Because this is active litigation, we are not able to comment further at this time."
Bimbo is pronounced "Beem-bow." The company was created in 1945. Its name combines the words "Bingo," which was a popular song at the time, and "Bambi," an animated 1942 Disney movie, its website says.
Here's what we know about Bimbo Bakeries lawsuit
Roman started work with Bimbo in September 2014 as a process technician, then was transferred in roughly 2016 to the sanitation department, the lawsuit petition said.
About that time, Roman's petition said, he began receiving undesirable job duties, wasn't properly trained upon being moved to different positions, was moved to a less desirable shift and was once told that the walls there were "as dark as" his own skin.
In about March 2022, Roman's suit says, a Caucasian co-worker called him a "lazy Mexican," asked how he got across the border, said he didn't pay taxes and said he needed to pay for the wall at the U.S./Mexican border.
That co-worker also said "your uncles are coming" when the company's Mexican owners visited the Topeka site, the lawsuit petition says.
After Roman complained about those statements to his supervisory staff and Bimbo's human relations department on March 29, 2022, his Caucasian supervisor began following him around and watching him more closely, the suit says.
What happened next?
The lawsuit petition says Roman subsequently:
• Received a "verbal reprimand" about April 5, 2022, for violating the company's break policy 16 days earlier.
• Complained in May 2022 to the company's human resources department regarding the retaliatory and discriminatory behavior of his Caucasian supervisor.
• Joined seven of his co-workers in May 2022 in submitting a written complaint to the company "outlining the discriminatory and retaliatory behavior and hostile work environment being experienced by employees of color at the hands of their Caucasian co-workers and supervisors."
• Was assigned in about May or June 2022 to train five new Spanish-speaking employees, despite his prior complaints that his workload was disproportionately distributed. Roman was told he would receive a pay raise of $1 an hour for training the new employees but he never got it, the petition said.
When was Juan Roman terminated?
"In approximately August, November and December 2022, Plaintiff was disciplined by Defendant for allegedly failing to keep his work area properly sanitized, despite Defendant's decision to re-assign Plaintiff's co-worker to help sanitize another area and despite the fact that the third-party cleaning service did not service Plaintiff's work area," he complaint said.
It added: "On or about Nov. 1, 2022, Defendant abruptly issued a final written warning to Plaintiff, alleging that Plaintiff had accumulated 'attendance points' dating back to 2020; however, these 'attendance points' had not been made aware to Plaintiff at the time they allegedly occurred, nor did Defendant follow Defendant's attendance policy regarding these alleged 'attendance points.'"
Roman was suspended over the attendance points situation about Dec. 7, 2022, and terminated over that situation about Dec. 15, 2022, his complaint said.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Discrimination suit filed by ex-Bimbo Bakeries worker in Topeka
