Epiq Food Hall Woodbridge, LLC, which owned and operated a now-closed food hall in Woodbridge, will pay $54,000 and provide other relief to settle a racial harassment lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency announced Monday.
According to the commission’s suit, Epiq’s former general manager, who is Black, faced racial harassment from the company’s owner, Michael Kim, who frequently made derogatory comments about Black customers and employees, calling them “ignorant,” “ghetto” and “riff-raff,” according to a civil complaint. Kim also told the general manager that he “look[ed] like [he] spoke thug language” and referred to him using the N-word, the commission alleged. Tired of the owner’s harassment and without any avenue to file a report, the general manager resigned in January 2023 after six months of employment, the commission said.
“Employees should not be forced to tolerate racial slurs and degrading harassment from their boss to earn a living,” Debra Lawrence, regional attorney for the commission’s Philadelphia District Office, said in a news release. “Federal law holds employers automatically liable for the harassing conduct of their owners.”…