Are caterers / catering services bound by Title II of the civil rights act?

[yodermon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#Title_II

Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce; exempted private clubs without defining the term "private".

having trouble with the google on this one.

[beachbum bob]

1. If you offer services to the public you can not discriminate

[onenote]

6. Not necessarily. See post #5

[LiberalFighter]

2. Private is when you belong to an organization

such as the VFW and provide dining or bar services. And the services are only available to members and possibly family. Not saying the VFW would.

[TexasProgresive]

3. And then there are private clubs in dry counties in Texas

where everyone who comes in the door is a member, maybe a guess member who pays a fee at the door.

[Chan790]

4. Yes.

Having been a catering chef briefly and my mother having run a catering company for about 30 years (two separate commercial ventures)...yes, we are.

That said, very little catering business is subject to Title II...most catering business is extremely-local so unless you live on one side of a state border and service events on the other side of the border...you're only engaging in intrastate commerce not subject to federal laws. It would be more of an issue for catering operations tied to multistate businesses like hotel chains.

Really though, even if she could have discriminated, she wouldn't have...the only color my mother cares about is green. She's a Nixon Republican.

[onenote]

5. the fact that a catering business doesn't service events in another state is irrelevant

Last edited Fri Apr 3, 2015, 09:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Businesses are deemed to be engaged in interstate commerce if any part of the business activity affects interstate commerce. In the case of a business in the business of preparing and selling food, if that food itself moves in interstate commerce. It is unlikely that the food that any catering business prepares and sells is all locally grown or produced (or for that matter, that the trucks they use, the equipment they use, etc. are locally manufactured).

The issue with catering businesses is whether they meet the definition of public accomodation. Title II defines that term, in relevant part, as follows: any restaurant, cafeteria, lunchroom, lunch counter, soda fountain, or other facility principally engaged in selling food for consumption on the premises, including, but not limited to, any such facility located on the premises of any retail establishment; or any gasoline station;

Initially it was held that the requirement of on-premises dining meant that at least half of the food had to consumed "on the premises" of the entity selling the food. But that interpretation was reversed -- the courts held that the "on the premises" limitation was intended to exclude grocery stores but not establishments that principally sell ready to eat food, whether or not it is consumed at the location where it is prepared. While I haven't found a case involving Title II and a catering company, I think there is a pretty strong argument that catering businesses are subject to Title II.

In short, there might be a question as to whether a catering business is subject to Title II, wouldn't turn on the in-state/out-of-state distinction.

Edited to correct a misstatement about the law.

[Chan790]

7. I presumed it wasn't subject to Title II.

I may be wrong...it never came up because my mother would cater for anybody.

She didn't give a shit who she was cooking for as long as the checks cleared.