Terminated employees of GW’s dining provider said the company and its management staff retaliated against employees who spoke out about health and safety concerns.
Five terminated employees of Chartwells Higher Education — GW’s dining partner since 2021 — said the company’s management told them not to speak out about unsafe and unsanitary conditions within GW’s dining hall kitchens, refrigerators and food preparation areas of GW Dining locations, and even occasionally retaliated against them for doing so. The employees said they have experienced persistent mold, unclean equipment and undercooked food in GW’s dining halls, which mirrors student complaints of food-borne illness and repeated safety violations in the University’s dining halls.
GW partnered with Chartwells Higher Education — owned by Compass Group USA — in 2021 to operate its dining halls as the University overhauled its dining facilities, bringing back all-you-care-to-eat, buffet style dining halls to Foggy Bottom that since then have been plagued by safety violations and student reports of food-borne illnesses…