News

Taco John’s pressured to take action for 'gaytard' incident (updated)

September 26, 2014

The ACLU has started a "Stand with Tyler" campaign aimed at Taco John's for an alleged bullying incident involving one of its franchised restaurants. Tyler Brandt, a 16-year-old employee at the Taco John's restaurant in Yankton, South Dakota, claims his manager forced him to wear a nametag that said, "Gaytard."

In response, the ACLU Nationwide has asked Taco John's International to apologize and to "stand against bullying and discrimination – even on the franchise level." A petition has been created to "put pressure on Taco John's" to take these actions. As of this morning, more than 35,500 signatures were included, with 40,000 total needed. The ACLU has also filed an EEOC case against Taco John's International, and has launched a social media campaign to raise awareness about the incident and is asking people to send Brandt messages of support through its Tumblr page – www.tacojohnscalledmeagaytard.com.

The goal is to prevent this from happening again, "even on a local franchise level," the organization said on its Facebook page.

Taco John's responded to the incident on its own Facebook page Wednesday, stating in part: "We are deeply concerned about the reported incident and we share the belief that discrimination is wrong.…"

The company, however, distanced itself from culpability, telling fans: "We do not control day to day operations of our franchisees or their personnel decisions."

This response yielded a number of responses from Facebook fans in disagreement. For example:

• "That is YOUR brand out there; to throw up your hands and say, ‘It is a franchise store, we can do nothing,' is laziness, pure and simple ..."
• "As long as your sign and logo's (sic) are displayed on there (sic) buildings you do have control over their action's (sic). That is why they pay a franchise fee to you they have to go by your guide lines …"
• "I understand you do not control day to day operations – but bigotry and hatred are not part of the operations they are part of the corporate environment."
• "You might not control the day to day operations of your franchises but at the end of those ‘day to day operations' it is still the company's name on the logo and not the homophobic bigot's name!"
• "BS you have franchise agreements to cover this situation. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. The courts will make you eventually at a MUCH higher cost."

Taco John's response

Taco John's CEO Jeff Linville has responded to the ACLU's complaint, as well as fan inquiries about possible franchisee discipline, stating:

“We at Taco Johns are deeply concerned about the reported incident in Yankton. At Taco John’s International Inc., we believe everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, and in response to Tyler’s complaint, we share his belief that discrimination is wrong. Accordingly, we require our independently owned and operated franchisees to run their restaurants in compliance with the law, including state and federal laws pertaining to equal employment and anti-discrimination. Please understand, however, that we do not control day to day operations of our franchisees nor do we have control over franchisee personnel decisions. The decision whether to discipline the franchisee may only be made when it is legally concluded that a law has been violated by the franchise owners. We will cooperate fully with the EEOC and (South Dakota) DOL to bring this matter to a speedy conclusion. Finally, you should also know that we will do everything we can to minimize the possibility that incidents of the nature alleged do not occur in the future at this location and throughout our franchise system.”