Capitol Hill Club Hit With Another Race Discrimination Lawsuit
A third multimillion-dollar race discrimination lawsuit was filed Wednesday against the Capitol Hill Club, just one day before the popular Republican hangout hosts a reception for new Members featuring National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas).
Khalil Carr claims that though he was a jack-of-all-trades for the club, he was not paid as such. His $2 million lawsuit — filed against the club and its manager, Stan Lawson — maintains he was discriminated against because he is black.
Carr, who is still employed by the club, claims he was hired in January to be the receiving manager but was quickly delegated more responsibility, such as day-to-day ordering and inventory for walk-in freezers and scheduling and managing the dishwashing staff.
His suit claims that though he made the club manager aware of the increased responsibility, he never got a pay raise from his $32,000 yearly salary.
In February, a white woman was hired as purchasing manager, and though Carr had been performing the same duties, his suit claims he was never notified of or considered for the position. When the woman was fired in April, those duties went back to Carr, according to papers filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Carr approached Lawson “on two separate occasions to be given the same position and $55,000.00 per year salary that was given to the white female who was doing the same purchasing duties and his requests were denied,” according to the suit. “He was never given a salary increase to fairly compensate him for the titles and duties he was being held accountable.”
His suit comes just weeks after two other race discrimination lawsuits were filed against the club.
The first case against the club was filed in October by Kim Crawford, an African-American woman who claims she did not receive a pay raise in her eight years as the club’s human resources manager, even as several white and Hispanic employees did.
The second suit was filed Nov. 8 by banquet chef Trevor Burt, who is of Jamaican descent. He claims he stepped into the role of acting executive chef for four months but was neither duly paid during that period nor offered the top chef job, which went to a Caucasian.
Lawson and the club’s president, Ray McGrath of Downey McGrath Group Inc., did not immediately return calls seeking comment.