Allegations of racial discrimination and retaliation in the workplace have been raised in a new federal lawsuit that claims a hospitality employer replaced Black housekeeping staff with Hispanic employees and punished those who complained about unfair treatment. The complaint was filed by T’Shara Carter on March 17, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Quality Oil Company, LLC (North Carolina).
According to the filing, Carter began working as a housekeeper for Quality Oil Company’s Lawrenceville, Georgia hotel on August 25, 2025. She states that she was hired by Jennifer Anders, who at the time was Housekeeping Manager. Carter claims that prior to her employment there was only one African American working part-time in housekeeping. From her first day on the job, Carter alleges she noticed “a stark racial difference in terms of how African American housekeeping staff were treated by Hispanic Management and Housekeeping staff,” particularly when Anders was not present.
The complaint details that by December 6, 2025—the date of Carter’s termination—Anders and two other African American housekeeping staff had been terminated while two others quit. Carter asserts that all these individuals were replaced with Hispanic employees. She further alleges that management appeared to be “looking for any reason to fire African American housekeeping staff.”
Specific allegations are made against an assistant manager named Stephanie, described as Hispanic in the complaint. Carter claims Stephanie refused to train Black employees after Anders’ departure and assigned them more difficult workloads compared to their Hispanic colleagues. For example, Black employees were reportedly given rooms with two beds instead of one or rooms where guests were checking out rather than staying another night—tasks which took longer to complete. Additionally, scheduling preferences allegedly favored Hispanic employees.
Carter also describes issues with supplies and support: “Black employees would also routinely not have their rooms stripped…when the Houseman responsible for doing so was Hispanic,” she reports. Floors assigned to her were allegedly not stocked with cleaning supplies while those assigned to Hispanic workers were adequately prepared.
The complaint states that from September through December 2025, Carter made multiple complaints about what she describes as racially discriminatory treatment. These complaints were made to several individuals including Erica (the supervisor who replaced Anders), Hotel Manager Donna Lemon, Lemon’s supervisor Olga, and Human Resources employee Donna Spillman. According to Carter’s account, other employees also raised concerns about race-based discrimination during this period—including at least one formal complaint from Anders before her own termination.
Carter alleges that after Erica became supervisor, “Erica continued the racially discriminatory practices listed above.” When Carter confronted Erica about giving harder work assignments to Black employees, Erica directed her to speak with Lemon; Carter says she did so within days. On October 27 and again on November 5 of 2025, Carter reported both discrimination and retaliation concerns directly to Human Resources.
On December 4, 2025—a day when no houseman or laundry person was present—Carter says she was assigned eight rooms with double beds but could not finish all tasks before leaving at approximately 5:15 p.m., despite being previously instructed by management to clock out by 4:00 p.m. She left two rooms unfinished due to workload demands but notes in her filing that other employees had previously left rooms incomplete without consequence.
Two days later on December 6, Lemon terminated Carter’s employment citing her early departure on December 4 as the reason for dismissal. However, Carter contends this rationale is pretextual: “Although Defendant may purport to provide a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for the adverse actions,” she writes in her complaint, “such reason(s) are pre-text for unlawful retaliation in response to Plaintiff’s protected activity and for unlawful discrimination based on her race.”
In Count I of her lawsuit—Retaliation in Violation of Section 1981—Carter claims she engaged in protected activity under federal law when complaining about disparate treatment based on race. She asserts that her termination constitutes unlawful retaliation under Section 1981 and argues that Quality Oil Company acted willfully and wantonly disregarding her rights.
The relief sought includes lost wages and benefits with prejudgment interest; general damages for mental and emotional suffering; declaratory judgment declaring violation of rights; punitive damages; attorneys’ fees; injunctive relief such as reinstatement or front pay; prohibition against further unlawful conduct; as well as any additional relief deemed appropriate by the court.
T’Shara Carter is represented by attorneys V. Severin Roberts (Georgia Bar No. 940504) and Patrick Reid (Georgia Bar No. 888769) of The Workers’ Firm. The case is identified as Civil Action No. 1:26-cv-01460-ELR-LRS.
Source: 126cv01460_Tshara_Carter_v_Quality_Oil_Complaint_Northern_District_of_Georgia.pdf
