Midtown Sweetgreens Racially, Sexually Harassed Workers: Lawsuit

MIDTOWN, NY — Managers at two Midtown Sweetgreens locations are anything but sweet, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday, claiming that managers hurled racial slurs, denied employment and overlooked rampant sexual harassment.

Ten employees of the popular salad chain claim that the two Midtown spots, plus five others across the city, say that Black workers were regularly subjected to their supervisors calling them the N-word, lewd sexual comments and other discrimination claims.

"I hate these Black workers," is among the many racist statements detailed in the 39-page complaint. "They don’t clean well and they're lazy."

The managers, the suit says, "participated in, approved of, condoned and ratified the racial harassment, discrimination and the hostile work environment on the basis of race."

A Sweetgreen spokesperson said the chain is committed to both diversity and fostering a safe and inclusive workplace.

"We take these accusations seriously and do not tolerate any form of harassment, discrimination, or unsafe working conditions," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We are unable to comment further on any pending legal matters."

At one of the Midtown locations, at East 55th Street and Park Avenue, one of the employees in the suit claims that a manager did nothing when she complained that a male coworker told her in Spanish that she had “d***-sucking lips.”

The same male employee continued to sexually harass the female employee in Spanish, the suit says, and the manager still refused to reprimand his behavior.

Another employee claims that coworkers would regularly use the N-word on a daily basis at the Park Avenue location and at a Sweetgreens on West 38th Street and Broadway.

The suit says the word became a regular form of address for the Black employees, rather than using the employee’s names, alongside open complaints that they were poor workers.

One employee said in the suit that she “found such references dehumanizing and offensive.”

A manager at the Park Avenue location also frequently touched the female employees on the small of their backs and shoulders, a touch he did not extend to the male employees, the suit contends.

When an employee complained directly to Sweetgreen’s HR department about the Park Avenue manager’s behavior, the lawsuit reads, the manager responded by spreading rumors that she was trying to get them all fired.

That Park Avenue manager continues to work at that Midtown Sweetgreens as of Thursday, the suit says.

The Sweetgreen employees involved with the suit, all of whom identify as African-American, also contend qualified Black candidates were routinely passed over in hiring and promotion decisions in favor of Hispanic workers.

Thursday's suit is an expansion of a complaint filed in March by two people and now includes a total of 10 employees who say they all worked at the seven Sweetgreen locations at various times between 2019 and 2023.

It covers Sweetgreen locations in the Financial District, Greenwich Village, the Meatpacking District, Upper West Side and the two Midtown locations, as well as names two general managers as defendants.

Read the complete lawsuit here.

Additional reporting by Matt Troutman