Previous workers at Parlor Pizza Bar, a area chain with places in West Loop, Wicker Park, and River North, say administration would segregate its eating rooms by race, seating BIPOC shoppers in what was named the “rejection section” in the back again of the restaurant, reserving the far more appealing tables in the front around the window for young white specialists who a lot more closely fulfilled the image Parlor’s house owners experienced of the restaurant’s suitable customer.
The rejection sections in Wicker Park and River North are among a collection of allegations incorporated in a lengthy expose printed Monday morning by Block Club Chicago. Former workers also say they were forced to perform unpaid overtime, and that management hid employees’ COVID-19 standing from other workers. Block Club spoke with 8 former personnel who had finished stints at the company’s 3 restaurants.
Parlor is a family members-friendly pizzeria by day that transforms into a bar and club at night time. The very first locale opened in 2014 in West Loop.
Former Parlor employees claim that managers routinely scheduled them for double shifts — two consecutive shifts in 1 working day — and forced them to clock out and then keep at the cafe and fold napkins and silverware for two or a few more hours with out pay. In 2015 and once more in 2017, employees sued Parlor for failing to fork out additional time wages.
Girl servers mentioned supervisors publicly reprimanded them for demonstrating up to function searching “ugly” — that is, with what they identified was significantly less than fantastic hair and makeup — and then would not routine them for the following 7 days. Careers were divided in between gender traces: only women of all ages were being hired for obvious employment like servers, and management produced it obvious that they were there to be looked at.
Meanwhile, as the cafe business carries on to offer with the pandemic, staff says Parlor’s management unsuccessful to tell them when their colleagues examined constructive for COVID-19. As an alternative, people’s names would just disappear from the timetable, and no just one would discover out why until the unwell staff instructed them. “One of the supervisors arrived out and yelled at all of us, that Parlor was doing every little thing and that they didn’t appreciate that we have been having group messages to inform just about every other,” a previous personnel advised Block Club.
Proprietor Mike Bisbee declined to comment to Eater Chicago. In an emailed statement to Block Club, a Parlor agent denied the allegations and claimed that seating was determined by who experienced reservations and a coverage of splitting covers much more equally concerning servers. The corporation “would instantly terminate any employee who acted in these a despicable way,” the assertion read through. “This allegation is a comprehensive fabrication and abundantly apparent when you walk into any of our dining establishments.”
This isn’t the initially time Parlor has been accused of racism. Back again in 2016 at the Wicker Park location, client Antar Jackson mentioned he was denied entry ostensibly due to the fact he was wearing sweatpants, a violation of the restaurant’s costume code, but he believed the true rationale was simply because he is Black. At the time, Parlor management banned athletic don, declaring they had been serving pizza in “an elevated ecosystem.” Jackson, a veteran Chicago bartender, said his joggers have been actually from Vince, a significant-conclusion brand.
Very last thirty day period, Inside Earnings Assistance brokers raided all three Parlor spots which were shut down for two times as authorities searched the premises. Law enforcement officials haven’t uncovered information on what activated its investigation.