A line cook who suffers from Bell’s Palsy has filed a lawsuit against a Waffle House in Sumter County, accusing his former employer of 20 years of age discrimination and saying that new management cut his hours and insulted him to “convince him to quit.”
The lawsuit was filed by a Miami-based law firm on behalf of Randall Cook against East Coast Waffles, Inc., a “foreign profit corporation.”
According to the complaint, Cook, who lives in Belleview, began working at the Waffle House located at 7954 NE 8th Way in Wildwood “on or about March 16, 2005.”
The complaint says that Cook worked as a cook “earning $15.80 per hour plus bonuses” and “on average,” he worked approximately 35 hours per week “initially and for many years.”
“Once the old manager left and was replaced by new management, discrimination resulted in lowered weekly hours to 14,” reads the lawsuit. “The lowered weekly hours were initiated in order to discriminate against plaintiff and convince him to quit in a constructive termination manner.”
According to the suite, new management told Cook that he was “too slow and that his age was a problem.” He says he was “regularly made fun of” for his disability and that he was assigned “excessive amounts of work.”
Cook says he was treated differently than the other employees who “did not suffer from Bell’s palsy and/or were not over 70 years old.”
The lawsuit states that Cook eventually complained to the district manager about mistreatment and filed a “charge with the Florida Commission on Human Relations.”
According to the complaint, Cook says that although the district manager said he “would talk” to management, “the treatment continued.” He says management would “make fun” of him and “reprimand him in front of customers,” both insulting his “disease” and his “ability to work.”
“Management threatened [Cook’s] vehicle and engaged in other scare tactics where were not done to other grill operators/cooks” reads the complaint. Cook says management would also disparage him
At one point, Cook allegedly called the police “due to this abuse.”
The complaint further states that Cook had stints put in his legs and that the new manager refused to “accept his medical documentation and/or make reasonable accommodations.”
“Eventually [Cook’s] employment ended due to mistreatment, false write ups and abuse from defendant. This was after a final warning, all of which was fabricated and false,” reads the complaint.
Cook was terminated on May 10, 2024, according to the complaint.
Cook is seeking more than $50,000 in “declaratory and injunctive relief and damages.”
