Rights Monitor to Serve Up Some Sensitivity at Denny’s Chain

Denny’s Inc., the Spartanburg, S.C.-based restaurant chain, found itself in the news this spring after a number of black consumers alleged discriminatory treatment by employees at its restaurants in California and Maryland.

In March, Denny’s and the U.S. Department of Justice signed an agreement that Jerome J. Richardson, chairman of Flagstar Cos. Inc., Denny’s corporate parent, has described as an “affirmation of our commitment to treating all customers fairly.”

As part of that consent decree, Denny’s hired Joseph D. Russell, 50, as its civil rights monitor. Russell, a human resources and management consultant in San Diego who will work from Denny’s Irvine offices, previously spent 20 years in human resources positions with Control Data Corp. in Minneapolis. He recently spoke with Times reporter Greg Johnson.

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Q. What have you been doing in the past two weeks to familiarize yourself with Denny’s operations?

A. So far, I’ve been in an orientation that’s really been beautiful and all-encompassing. I’ve done everything from visiting restaurants and meeting with managers to meeting with corporate management here in Spartanburg, S.C. I’ve even had the pleasure of working in two restaurants in San Diego . . . where I did everything from washing dishes, acting as host, server, general manager. . . . I did that on the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift and two nights from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m., just to get a real, representative viewpoint of Denny’s operation.

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Q. Why did you work in Denny’s restaurants?

A. The objective was to give me a feel for what employees do. When someone calls me, I’ll have a clearer understanding of what they do, which will prepare me to better understand and deal with whatever issue or topic they have. That familiarity not only facilitates my understanding of where they’re coming from, but makes them more comfortable talking to me, because they’re talking to someone who knows about their job. That will help me from my perspective as a civil rights monitor.

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Q. Your job is mandated by the consent decree, isn’t it?

A. The consent decree established the position of civil rights monitor, that’s correct. In the consent decree, Denny’s agreed to do certain things, and hiring a civil rights monitor was one of those things. That person monitors and implements all the components of the consent decree. This is a unique situation, because, while I’m an employee of Denny’s, I’m also in a direct reporting position to the Department of Justice. I was interviewed and selected by Denny’s. But I also went to Washington to be interviewed by a team of lawyers in the Department of Justice’s civil rights department.

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Q. What will you be doing?

A. The decree outlines the qualifications for this position, and outlines the different types or components of training to be conducted. And it (describes) different reporting that I will have to present to the Department of Justice on a timely basis. It involves very specific . . . information regarding (corporate) practices which I’m supposed to monitor and then report back on. Those things are described very specifically in the body of the consent decree.

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Q. How did you end up as Denny’s civil rights monitor?

A. One evening in San Diego my wife and I . . . were watching the (television) news. It was the first account I had heard of one of the reported situations that Denny’s had in San Diego. It also talked about the consent decree. I wrote a letter to (Flagstar Chairman) Jerry Richardson outlining my background and suggesting that I could be of service to Denny’s. I requested a personal interview. Denny’s was in the process of hiring an external recruiting firm, and my information was forwarded. I was one of many candidates but I later surfaced as the No. 1 candidate.

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Q. Have you had situations in which you felt you were discriminated against?

A. As an African-American, there have been situations where I felt uncomfortable because service was delivered with overtones of discrimination. Those overtones have occurred in my personal life, in terms of housing and employment. I’ve experienced it while traveling and staying at some hotels. I had experiences when I was a freshman in college. I’ve had numerous incidents that definitely had the overtones of potential discrimination based upon my race.

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Q. How important is it that a civil rights monitor have firsthand experience with discrimination?

A. I think it is very critical. You can really understand and relate successfully to people if you have that type of background. Not everyone knows what discrimination is. So it’s critical to have someone who knows . . . all the different things that can happen with discrimination.

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Q. What is your background?

A. I was educated as a secondary education teacher, but I moved into industry. My first five years were spent (conducting) management training. After that, for about 10 years, I was in human resources, at the plant, division and corporate levels. Throughout that time I was very much involved in equal employment opportunity and affirmative action programs.

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Q. Is your civil rights monitoring job proactive or reactive?

A. It is both. One of my responsibilities is, very naturally, responding to complaints, which would be reactive. But I also have the responsibility to conceive, write and develop a training program for employees that will be delivered to them by videotape. That training--on cultural diversity and cultural sensitivity--is very proactive. And it’s outlined as such in the consent decree. As per the requirements in the consent decree, that videotape is to be developed in the next 60 to 90 days.

I’m also developing a voluntary, eight-hour program for all of Denny’s management that will deal with three specific areas. We’re talking about awareness of what diversity is and why it’s a business issue. Another segment is sensitivity--getting people to become aware of where they are relative to this issue. The third segment is a practical application plan, to take things and see how it all reverts back to the job. Again, this management program is not required by the consent decree. It will be starting in the latter part of August and run through November. It will be offered to all management people from the restaurant manager up through the whole Denny’s organization.

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Q. You’ll also be checking to see how Denny’s is treating its customers?

A. Testing is one of the responsibilities of the consent decree. We’re to implement many tests in our restaurants, to measure service given to all customers, particularly to those who are African-Americans. The monitoring described in the consent decree also requires me to make reviews of and improve (corporate) communications to make sure there’s nothing with a discriminatory impact or intent. While the consent decree required monitoring in our California Denny’s restaurants, we voluntarily expanded it to Denny’s restaurants nationwide.

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Q. How will you be testing Denny’s restaurants to find out how customers are being treated?

A. The consent decree outlines monitoring that will be carried out. In addition to monitoring and managing the complaint process, the decree requires us to try and see if there are situations that are discriminatory and, if necessary, take corrective action. Some of that monitoring will be my responsibility. We’re going to do it in conjunction with the NAACP and some other organizations. We’ll be giving our restaurant employees situations in which they’re going to be monitored. And, we’ll be providing information back to the Department of Justice. The NAACP, incidentally, was not mentioned in the consent decree. That’s something we decided to do in addition.

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Q. Other corporations might view this simply as Denny’s problem. How do you suggest they view it?

A. They can take it for what it’s worth. This is a new (monitoring) approach by the Department of Justice . . . so other (corporations) should take note of it. It’s a change in how Washington is dealing with organizations like Denny’s. I think it will provide something very interesting for other organizations to monitor. They’ll be able to learn from it just as Denny’s is presently learning.

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Q. How will you know if you’re successful?

A. Well, the objectives of the consent decree are very specific. There’s the training program video: We will conceive, design, write it, take it to the Department of Justice for review and then come back to the studios and get it produced. We’ll show it to the employees and monitor the impact on employees as they carry out their responsibilities. You could look at those (required) elements and determine if we’re being successful.

There are many other spinoffs. If a person goes into a restaurant, and regardless of their cultural background, gets Denny’s type of customer service, if you can measure that, then we’re a success.