Queens Bakery Fined $25,000 For Discrimination


The Framboise Patisserie in Middle Village, Queens, has been fined $25,000 for discriminatory hiring practices.

Jamilah DaCosta applied for a job working the counter at the French bakery in October 2011. The 25-year-old interviewed with co-owner Patty Meimetea, who told her she wouldn’t be a good fit for the position because black workers in the front of the bakery would scare away customers.

“I can’t hire you because you’re black,” DaCosta said Meimeta told her.

After an investigation and trial, the city’s Human Rights Commission fined the bakery $25,000 for racial and gender discrimination for refusing DaCosta because of her race and for discouraging men from applying for the job with a gender-specific Craigslist ad for a “counter girl.”

DaCosta and the HRC said Meimeta questioned her about her nationality. DaCosta initially said she was America, but said she was Jamaican and Lebanese after Meimeta continued to prod her. Meimeta said her husand would be upset if she hired a black worker for the counter, but that she would hire DaCosta if there were a kitchen position open, where she couldn’t be seen by customers.

“I felt hurt. I was disgusted,” DaCosta said. “Before I could even pull out my resume or start a formal interview, she was telling me all this negative stuff — she couldn’t hire me because I was black, I would scare away her customers.”

Meimeta also told DaCosta to apply for a job at a different Queens bakery where her race wouldn’t matter. But she and her husband and co-owner, AJ Saputhanthri, denied DaCosta’s claims of racism. Saputhanthri even said that DaCosta assumed his wife, who is Greek, was racist because she looked white.

“It’s never true. I swear to you,” he said. “I respect everybody. I don’t do anything bad to people.”

The HRC said the couple admitted to never hiring a black person or man to work at the counter in the three years the bakery has been open. Saputhanthri said they now have two black employees, including one at the counter.

The HRC ordered the bakery to pay $10,000 in damages to DaCosta, a $10,000 fine for racial discrimination, and a $5,000 fine for gender discrimination.

Earlier this year, a British pub in Brooklyn faced an $8,000 fine and human rights prosecution after posting an ad that stated “being British definitely works in your favour.” The HRC said its rules and regulations ban advertisements that request applicants be from a single country. The Longbow Pub and Pantry’s ad said their previous employee left because she wasn’t up to date with British culture. The pub’s owners, Jennifer and Michael Colbert, decided not to fight the charges and paid a $2,500 fine for discrimination.

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