South Beach Hotel Accused of Discriminating Against Haitian Dishwashers

MIAMI BEACH, FL — The SLS Hotel South Beach is accused by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) of firing the hotel's black Haitian dishwashers and replacing them with light-skinned Hispanics. The agency also charged that SLS managers and chefs referred to black Haitian dishwashers as "slaves." and "f-----g Haitians."

The allegations were contained in a federal discrimination lawsuit filed against the hotel in U.S. District in Miami on Wednesday.

James L. Greeley, SBE's chief legal officer, insisted that the hotel did nothing wrong and planned to fight the lawsuit.

“SBE made the decision more than two years ago to outsource the staffing of a number of the departments of the SLS South Beach for economic reasons, helping to manage the wide seasonal fluctuations in the Florida market," according to Greeley. "When this issue first came to our attention, we immediately conducted a thorough internal investigation and found no evidence of wrongdoing."

Greeley said that the hotel shared its information with EEOC and had been cooperating with the agency to resolve the matter prior to the lawsuit.

The EEOC accused the hotel of using a staffing agency to discriminate.

"Employers should not be able to avoid liability by using a staffing agency to discriminate when it cannot lawfully do so on its own," said Robert E. Weisberg, regional attorney for the EEOC's Miami District office. "Consistent with the agency's strategic enforcement goals, the EEOC will be vigilant in ensuring employment discrimination is not hidden behind increasingly complex business relationships, including the outsourcing concept."

Michael Farrell, district director for the EEOC's Miami District office added that the agency is committed to protecting workers from discrimination in important Florida industries like service, hospitality and tourism.

According to the federal agency, black Haitian employees at the SLS were told not to speak Creole, even among themselves, while Hispanic employees were allowed to speak Spanish. The EEOC said that black Haitian dishwashers were asked to carry heavy items and perform other difficult tasks, but Hispanics were spared such tough assignments.

"SLS Hotel South Beach chose to outsource the steward/dishwasher positions without providing the black Haitian employees an opportunity to apply to the staffing agency before their termination. The terminations, per the complaint, were not performance-based," federal officials charged.

Moreover, "some of the terminated employees saw their replacements — largely light-skinned Hispanics - performing their job duties as they exited the termination meeting and were escorted from the hotel by security personnel," according to the EEOC.

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