Red Onion Unveils Its Own Anti-Bias Plan : $2-Million-a-Year Effort Aimed at ‘Positive Approach’
The Red Onion restaurant chain, under investigation by two state agencies for alleged racial discrimination, outlined plans Friday to adopt non-discriminatory hiring and training policies and reach out to the minority communities of Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.
Company Vice President Stephen Solomon said the Red Onion will conduct a nationwide search for minority-owned suppliers, recruit and train minority employees for all levels of the company and endow a scholarship fund for minorities who are interested in the restaurant field.
“The Red Onion Corp. is taking a positive, progressive approach for the 1980s and 1990s,” said Solomon at a press conference held at Red Onion corporate headquarters in Carson. He added that the company anticipates spending $2 million a year to implement the new plan.
50 Complaints, 3 Lawsuits
The Southern California chain of 14 restaurants has been accused of racial bias in more than 50 complaints and three lawsuits. The actions were filed by people who had sought entrance to Red Onion discos in Santa Ana, Fullerton, Riverside and Palm Desert.
Former and current employees of the company’s outlets have told reporters that their bosses instructed them to “clean up the crowd” when it became “too dark” or to find something wrong with minority customers’ identification or clothing.
Company officials repeatedly have denied that the Red Onion discriminates. They have said the report was commissioned to allow the company to “correct the perception of a problem.”
The plan also includes a summer jobs program for inner-city children and the establishment of “intercultural training seminars” in which the company’s 2,000 employees--including Red Onion President Ron Newman--will learn “effective communications with persons who are different.”
Red Onion employees currently are required to attend motivational training seminars conducted by People Synergistically Involved, a human potential group in which Newman is actively involved.
Solomon said Friday that the company’s new posture will increase sales and generate new business.
‘Good Business’
“There is a large minority population that we can ask to come to our discos and restaurants and spend money. We spend money in the minority community, and they send their friends out; it’s going to double our sales. . . . That’s good business. That’s good management,” Solomon explained.
Asked why the company had not acted earlier, Solomon said, “We didn’t have our vistas open.”
Solomon brushed aside questions about why the discrimination allegations have been made, saying: “today we are dealing with the positive. This press conference is on a positive basis. I will not allow the company or myself to be involved in negativity.”
The Red Onion hired Nathaniel Trives, a criminal justice professor at Cal State Los Angeles, to develop a plan that would address the discrimination complaints. Trives had been appointed several years ago by a federal court to oversee the integration of the San Francisco Police Department.
Although careful not to say whether the company ever condoned policies to limit the number of minorities in its discos, Trives said Friday that his proposal “offers the Red Onion Corp. a chance to solve a very serious social problem.
3-Year Assignment
“We intend to make substantial changes in their understanding of this population that they are serving,” Trives said, referring to the increasing number of Latinos in Southern California. The company will pay Trives to monitor the new policies for three years.
The racial bias complaints triggered investigations into the company by the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and the City of Riverside.
Earl Sullaway, the deputy director of enforcement for the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, declined to comment on whether Friday’s overtures by the Red Onion would affect his agency’s inquiry.
“We are currently in settlement negotiations with them, and it is just too sensitive to comment on,” Sullaway said.
Community leaders gave the Red Onion’s proposal mixed reviews.
“All of this is in response to the public outcry over the indignity and humiliation people had to suffer in being discriminated against because of their race,” said Joyce Owens-Smith, president of the Orange County chapter of the Urban League. “The fact that they are saying they are going to take so much action indicates that there was some evidence of management involvement in what went on.”
‘Community Will Be Watching’
Nonetheless, Smith added, “I will give them the opportunity to do some of the things they are suggesting, but I think they should be aware that members of the community will be watching.”
Benedict Boyd, who handled many of the original complaints for the Orange County Human Relations Commission, said Friday: “These may be very good things to do, but they still have got to address the grievances of more than 50 people who were harmed. It’s not a matter of letting bygones be bygones.”
But Javier Rosales, an assistant to the Riverside city manager, called the company’s proposal “a very positive foot forward.
“It provides the framework under which the Red Onion can become a part of the very communities in which they do business,” he said.
One of the complainants said Friday’s expression of good will by the Red Onion wouldn’t change his feeling about the company.
“That’s great and wonderful and all, but it doesn’t comfort me in any way,” said Sam Crawford, 25, an Irvine car salesman who is black. “The damage is done. . . . I would never feel comfortable going back no matter what they proposed to the public.”
Crawford filed a $2-million lawsuit against the company in May after his white co-workers were allowed inside the Santa Ana disco and he was turned away despite a policeman verifying that his tattered driver’s license was valid.
