A Yum! Brands Employee at Taco Bell in Louisiana is Dismissed Because He is Gay
The LGBT civil rights group Connecting Rainbows is calling for a world-wide boycott of Yum! Brands restaurants, which includes KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell.
Jason Ray Smith, a gay employee of Taco Bell restaurant in Bossier City, Louisiana, was dismissed from work because he was honest about his sexual orientation on his Facebook profile and on his Connecting Rainbows profile.
Members of Connecting Rainbows have started an online petition on Change.org, demanding that Taco Bell institute cultural competency training.
Mr. Smith was told he needed to be taken out to the corn field and have the gay beaten out of him. When he reported it, Mr. Smith was harassed and intimidated by Taco Bell management.
Connecting Rainbows, in turn, demands that :
- Yum! Brands restaurants apologize to Mr. Smith and the LGBT community ;
- rehire Mr. Smith and provide a hostile-free work environment, or compensate Mr. Smith for his loss of income and other damages ; and
- provide diversity and cultural competency training to every employee -- worldwide !
Mr. Smith said that Taco Bell conditioned his rehiring on Mr. Smith deleting his Facebook account and deleting the entire Connecting Rainbows website, the former which Mr. Smith has said he will NOT do, and the latter over which Mr. Smith has no control. Sign our petition demanding that Taco Bell follow through on its commitment to diversity.
SHOULD AN ENTIRE INDUSTRY BE BOYCOTTED BECAUSE A FRANCHISE HOLDER OR A SUPERVISORY EMPLOYEE IS A JERK ?
ReplyDeleteThe web page needs some work. When you click on "sign petition" it just redisplays the page. You have to hunt through the paragraph to find the link that goes to the petition.
ReplyDeleteTaco Bell and Yum Brands don't tolerate any form of harassment or discrimination, period. Please read this letter about the false and misleading statements being made in this petition: http://bit.ly/lppU4B
ReplyDeleteAt the time of the incident in question Jason Smith was employed by my company not Taco Bell Corp. or YUM. Jason was NOT fired at the time of the incident. The employee who we determined, after a thorough investigation, was harassing Jason WAS fired. Jason could have returned to work immediately but chose not to for reasons unknown to us. We did not hear from him for weeks after the incident. When we were finally able to contact/meet with Jason we offered him a position in any of our restaurants, five weeks back pay, and a guaranty of no retaliation. He refused our offer without explanation. Also, if you look on the bulletin board in the break area of the restaurant Jason worked in you will find a very detailed memo (required posting in all of our stores) describing our "Zero Tolerance" policy with regard to harassment or discrimination of any kind. Included in this posting are telephone numbers that any employee may call, anonymously, to report violations of our H&D policies. The claims made on this website are untrue and unfair to all parties involved, including Jason. YUM and it's franchisee are known worldwide for their commitment to diversity and safe work environments. So are we, and we can prove it.
ReplyDeleteThe actions of one bigoted employe or manager should not be held against an entire company, especially if the unit in question is a franchise and NOT a corporate store. Much of the infromation being put out by Connecting Rainbows is false or half-truth. In fact, YUM Brands is listed as doing a fair job in non-descrimination in the workplace, having a CEI score of 65. (Only three (3) Companies in the United States have a 100 score.) Among the policies that YUM is recognized for is the zero-tolerance policy for discrimination or harrassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. YUM Brands even offers domestic partner benefits. Get it right people. for more information and the FACTS, check HRC's Corporate Equality Index pages relating directly to YUM Brands. The link is inserted here to make it easy for everyone.
ReplyDeletehttp://issuu.com/humanrightscampaign/docs/hrc-cei-2011-final/search?q=YUM