Panel Finds Restaurant Discriminated Against Blacks Students (Applebee's)

[OhioChick]

POSTED: 8:13 pm EDT March 14, 2008
UPDATED: 12:34 pm EDT March 15, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A state panel's finding means Applebee's must now try to settle with 20 black students refused service last year at a restaurant in western Ohio.

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission said this week that the high school and college-age students were subjected to unlawful discrimination. It stood by the finding after a hearing Thursday, despite arguments from Applebee's that race was not the reason for the snub on Feb. 9, 2007.

Lawyer Michael Hawkins said the Springfield restaurant manager believed some of the students were part of a group of whites and blacks who'd left without paying a couple of weeks earlier.

Commission spokeswoman Toni Delgado says if Applebee's can't come to a financial agreement with the students, prosecution is possible.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/15600366/detail.html