- Former employee filed a whistle-blower lawsuit claiming she was wrongly fired from the chain
- Chain founder doubts racism claim because one of largest investors has a black business partner
- Company was founded in 1995 in Woodbridge%2C N.J.%2C and has grown to more than 71 locations in 10 states
EDISON, N.J. — The founder of the Muscle Maker Grill chain of restaurants said his company continues to investigate a former manager’s claim that she was instructed by a franchise owner to discard job applications from black people.
However, Rod Silva added that he doubts the former employee’s claim because John Marques, one of the company’s largest franchise holders, has a black business partner and has hired black workers in the past.
Marques was hit with a whistle-blower lawsuit last month by the former employee, Robyn Decicco, who claimed that she was wrongfully fired from the chain’s Edison location last year after she tried to complain about Marques’ labor practices to corporate officials.
Muscle Maker Grill’s Twitter account spent much of the day Tuesday responding to chatter about the lawsuit on the social networking platform.
Silva, whose company also is named as a defendant, said that his company “does not engage in acts of discrimination, nor does it condone or accept acts of discrimination by any of its franchisees” and that its franchise owner-operators are required to obey labor laws.
Silva said he is “the son of immigrants from Brazil,” and “personally felt the pain of racism growing up in Newark and Edison, and during my professional career.
“One of the reasons I founded the Muscle Maker franchise system was to provide people of all races and creeds with access to the American Dream, based on merit, not pedigree, a sentiment that I feel viscerally based on my own life experience.
“John Marques, the franchised owner-operator of the Edison, N.J., location, has many African-American employees throughout his restaurant operation and, perhaps even more importantly given the nature of the allegation being leveled against him by a former employee, is actually partners with an African-American man in one of his Muscle Maker Grill franchise operations.
“Mr. Marques’ former employee’s charge of discrimination would appear, at first blush, to fly against some other facts that I know about Mr. Marques, namely that Mr. Marques has an African-American partner and many other loyal, hard-working African-American employees.”
“Our franchise system is made up of countless Muscle Maker Grill franchisees (including African-Americans) and their employees (including African-Americans) who have had absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with the events alleged to have transpired in Edison, New Jersey, and whose investments and livelihoods are dependent upon earning your continued patronage each and every day.”
Silva founded the company in 1995 in the Colonia section of Woodbridge, N.J. After becoming a franchise in 2007, the chain has grown to more than 71 locations in 10 states, with Marques exploring expansion into the Philippines.
Decicco, in her lawsuit, said Marques did not want to hire blacks.
“Marques did not want to hire African-American workers because he believed them to be ‘stupid,'” according to the the complaint, filed June 28 in state Superior Court in New Brunswick.
