Suit: Waffle House manager used racial slurs against diners

ATLANTA – A federal civil rights lawsuit says a manager at an Atlanta-area Waffle House used racial epithets to refer to customers of Mexican descent.

The lawsuit filed Monday says the alleged discrimination happened in February 2017 at a restaurant in Doraville.

The lawsuit says Pabla Martinez, a U.S. citizen, went to the restaurant with her young daughter and then-husband. It says the cook and restaurant manager, a white man, used a racial slur to refer to them and muttered “Why don’t they deport you to Mexico?”

The lawsuit says the family later discovered the food in their to-go order was strewn with garbage and not cooked properly.

Waffle House issued a statement Tuesday saying it is reviewing the case, does not tolerate discrimination and will respond through the legal process.

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This story has been corrected to show Martinez’s first name is spelled Pabla not Paola.