NEW ORLEANS – A former employee is suing Whole Foods Market for discrimination claiming she faced racial and religious harassment in retaliation for reporting employee misconduct.
Gurmeet Kaur filed a lawsuit in federal court against Whole Foods Market Inc. for alleged violations of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 and other related statutes.
According to court documents, Kaur, an Indian from Metairie, has been employed by Whole Foods since June 1, 2018. Kaur alleges continuous harassment, retaliation, racial discrimination, national origin discrimination and religious discrimination from around 2019 until her alleged wrongful termination on July 18, 2022.
Kaur claims that during her employment, she reported various violations within Whole Foods, including theft, falsifying records, inappropriate conduct and dress code violations that never were adequately addressed by management.
In her lawsuit, Kaur claims that after her reports, the store team leader began to harass her and make discriminatory comments about her race and Sikh religion to other employees to create a hostile work environment. She also alleges instances of disparate treatment and retaliation for refusing to perform duties outside her job description and claims that she was denied proper pay raises.
Kaur is seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages, pre-judgment interest, taxes, attorney fees and other costs.
She is being represented by Christopher A. Minias of The Minias Law Firm in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:23-cv-06830