Divine Tenn is saving to go to a University and was working at a West Midland McDonald’s under the controversial zero-hour contract when she made the request for some extra shifts to boost her take home pay.
In response, her boss Jaskaran Singh Khela told her that instructions had been handed down barring managers from granting additional shifts to the restaurant’s black workers.
The 18-year-old employee says her boss insisted it was “store policy” and would apply to all 20 black workers. Divine was told the reason for the change was that two black workers were ‘underperforming’.
She was devastated when it turned out that her skin color was the reason she wasn’t allowed to work and the assistant manager was banning all black staff from taking extra shifts.
"I am absolutely disgusted that a company so big and who I have worked hard for for over a year could treat me like this," Divine Tenn said.
"I can’t believe that racism still exists in this day and age. It’s been really upsetting for me and the other black members of staff, who now feel too uncomfortable to work there."
Divine began working for the Fort Parkway restaurant, in Erdington, in March 2014, so she could save up to go to university.
"I’ve always worked hard and covered as many shifts as possible while Ive been saving up to go to university," she said. “To be discriminated against like this because I am black is shocking and depressing.”
In July 2015, she was refused two shifts and she was puzzled.
“I spoke to some of the other employees, who happened to be black, and they said they hadn’t been allowed to pick up any shifts either," Divine revealed.
“My assistant manager said a couple of the other black members of staff had not been doing very well at work, so all of the black staff were being banned from taking on shifts," she added. “I was horrified.”
In the shocking audio recording, Mr Khela can be heard telling Divine the black people can’t take any shifts because they’re not performing.
McDonald's told The Independent: "We took this incident extremely seriously and launched a full investigation the employee concerned no longer works for the company and support is in place for the members of staff affected by the incident."
"McDonald’s is an inclusive employer and any incidences of discrimination against our employees will not be tolerated.”
