The former owner of a once-lively food hall in northern Virginia must pay $54,000 to settle a racial harassment lawsuit filed by the Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency announced this week [March 16]. Shyreece Brown, Sr., the former general manager of EpiQ Food Hall in Woodbridge, who i s Black, faced a barrage of racial slurs and put-downs from the company’s owner, Michael Kim, who also made derogatory comments about other Black employes and customers, calling them “ignorant,” “ghetto” and “riff-raff,” according to the agency’s lawsuit filed in August 2024 and obtained by Atlanta Black Star. Soon after Brown was hired to manage the food hall in June of 2022, Kim, who was his supervisor, began disparaging him and other Black workers, the complaint says. EpiQ Food Hall in Woodbridge, Virginia. (Photo: EpiQ Food Hall Yelp Page) Once, when they were putting up an outside banner, a tall Black employee of a food vendor asked if they needed help, and Kim declined, telling Brown the man was “not smart” enough for the task. He also later told Brown that Black people “act ignorantly” and said Brown had said done ignorant things in conversations with him.Hearing this, Brown says he took a beat and walked outside for five minutes to calm down before returning to work, because he didn’t want to lose his job. ‘Senseless… It Was Overkill’: Milwaukee Man and Pregnant Girlfriend Ask Neighbor to Turn Down Music, Moments Later It Ends in a Deadly ConfrontationKim told Brown that customers did not want “ghetto” people serving them, which Brown understood to mean Black employees. He also allegedly referred to Black patrons as “riff-raff.” The two-story, 13,000-square-foot EpiQ Food Hall opened in 2021 in a strip mall in Woodbridge, a well-to-do suburb of Washington, D.C., with an ethnically diverse population. It had 14 stalls offering a variety of food including hot chicken, Japanese noodles, lobster rolls, sushi, fish, vegan food and bubble tea, as well as a bar that featured live music, karaoke, djs, and trivia nights. Couches and tables for hanging out were interspersed around the venue. Customers wrote on Yelp and Reddit that the food hall had a fun and energetic ambiance, while a few said it could be noisier than they liked.As the buzz around the venue was building, Kim canceled events such as open mic nights, go-go funk music events and karaoke because they had attracted predominantly Black customers, Brown alleged. In October 2022, Kim told Brown to calm down a group of Black patrons at the bar, whom he thought were too rowdy. When Brown asked Kim why he asked him to do so, Kim replied, “Because you look like you speak thug language.” A few months later, in January 2023, while Brown and Kim were working on promotional mailers, Brown suggested they add coupons to bring in more customers. Kim became angry with Brown and told him, “This is why I am in my position and you are in your position,” then continued, “This is why ni–ers …. ” but stopped suddenly after using the racial slur. Brown said he immediately got up and left the food hall.Shortly after this incident, Kim brought in a new manager who was introduced to staff as the point person, which had always been Brown’s role. And Paola Salinas, the operations director, began to publicly nitpick Brown’s work. Weary of Kim’s overt bias and the racial harassment, and believing he was being pushed out as general manager, Brown resigned on Jan. 16, 2023, after six months of employment. In his resignation letter, he explained he was leaving “due to what has become a hostile work environment for me” and discrimination shown toward him and other Black employees. Brown noted the lack of reporting avenues available to him to complain about Kim’s harassing conduct, as the company had no human resources department or personnel, and its handbook had no complaint procedures for reporting discrimination or harassment. The EEOC sued Epiq Food Hall Woodridge, LLC, which owned and operated the now-closed food hall from April 2021 to October 2023, as well as the company that bought it, 4 Brothers Properties, LLC, finding the new owner liable “under a theory of successor liability.” The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by creating a hostile work environment due to race and constructive discharging Brown by fostering “conditions of employment so intolerable that a reasonable person in Brown’s circumstances would have felt compelled to resign.”The three-year consent decree settling the suit pays $54,000 to the former general manager. According to the settlement, Epiq no longer has any operating businesses or employees. In addition to the payment, the decree says that if Epiq resumes business operations, it will be prohibited from creating or maintaining a hostile work environment on the basis of race; create and distribute an anti-harassment policy, and provide Title VII training to its owners and management.“Employees should not be forced to tolerate racial slurs and degrading harassment from their boss to earn a living,” said Debra Lawrence, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Philadelphia District Office. “Federal law holds employers automatically liable for the harassing conduct of their owners.” The consent decree does not settle the EEOC’s claims against 4 Brothers Properties, which purchased the food hall in October 2023. In its answer to the commission’s complaint, 4 Brothers said it had “acted in good faith” and “performed reasonable due diligence as it relates to pending claims prior to its acquisition of EpiQ Food Hall.”Soon after the EEOC lawsuit was filed in August 2024, 4 Brothers Properties issued a statement in on social media hoping to clear the air and distance themselves from the prior owners: “EpiQ Food Hall is proudly under new ownership, and the individuals referenced in recent news are no longer affiliated with us. Our team is dedicated to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for everyone. In this time of transition for the food hall, we stand on the side of workers and everyone’s right to a safe, fair and discrimination free environment. Thank you for your continued support!” Vendors reportedly left the food hall throughout 2024, with some customers who provided reviews on social media calling it “a ghost town.” EpiQ Food Hall closed for good by the end of that year. ‘Riff-Raff’ and ‘Ghetto’?: Virginia Food Hall Owner Allegedly Mocked Black Customers and Staff — Now He’s the One Paying Up After Discrimination Lawsuit Blows Back on Him ...read more read less