Told she was ‘too dark’ to work at Olive Garden? Two women allege discrimination.

Two black women have filed discrimination suits claiming that the Olive Garden restaurant in Lexington violated a state civil rights law.

The suits were filed in Fayette Circuit Court last week on behalf of Majesty Spikener and Breyanna McMillian, both of Lexington.

Spikener alleges in her suit that she was subjected to “a racially hostile environment” at the Nicholasville Road restaurant, and that she was “told numerous times by a manager that she needed to be ‘prettier’ and ‘more like the light-skinned girls.’”

Spikener also alleges that she was told by the manager on numerous occasions, and once in front of another employee, that she was “not a quality black person.”

The suit claims that Spikener was fired “in retaliation for reporting the racial hostility to upper management.”

In a separate suit, McMillian alleges that she was interviewed for a position and told she had received the job. When she attended a training session for new hires, McMillian claims a manager told her she was “too dark” to work for the restaurant.

The manager then “took a $20 bill from his pocket, handed it to Ms. McMillian and told her to go back to Burger King, because that is where she deserved to work,” the suit says.

Spikener’s suit says she witnessed McMillian being fired “for being too dark and for not being ‘the presentable type of black person.’”

Rich Jeffers, a spokesman for Olive Garden’s parent company, said McMillian was never offered a position or hired by Olive Garden.

Furthermore, “We emphatically deny that the alleged comments were ever made by any member of our management team,” Jeffers said. “Such behavior flies in the face of our values and is in no way consistent with our long-standing commitment to diversity as well as our promise of treating everyone like family.”

The allegations go back to 2016. Ryan Robey, the attorney for Spikener and McMillian, said Wednesday the claims “have been a long time in the making. The parties wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row and that everything was ready to go because we know these are very serious allegations.”

Both suits claim unlawful termination in violation of the Kentucky Civil Rights Act. The law passed in 1966 makes it unlawful to discriminate against people in the areas of employment, financial transactions, housing and public accommodations.

Each suit seeks a trial by jury.

This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Told she was ‘too dark’ to work at Olive Garden? Two women allege discrimination.."