Cook disputes Guy Fieri; says discrimination charges not resolved at Hempfield casino eatery

A former line cook who alleged racial discrimination at Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen + Bar at Live! Casino Pittsburgh in Hempfield this spring said the situation has not been resolved.

The denial by Nate Ridley, 46, of East Pittsburgh came days after Guy Fieri in an interview with The New York Times said, “The situation has been resolved.”

“Nothing’s been going on, nothing’s happened,” Ridley told the Tribune-Review.

Ridley filed a suit in April with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saying he was subjected to racial discrimination, harassment and workplace retaliation.

Ridley, who is Black, said at an April gathering outside the casino at Westmoreland Mall he was among the first employees hired at the eatery and helped open the facility. At the gathering, Ridley said things began to sour in January when an angry manager yelled at another employee to turn his music down and used a racial pejorative.

He also alleged he was being pad $13 an hour when a white employee with less experience was making $15 an hour.

“Since we had that picket that day outside of the restaurant, that was the last time we really heard anything,” Ridley said.

At the time of the demonstration, a spokesman for the owners of Live! Casino Pittsburgh and Fieri’s restaurant denied the allegations that compensation varies by race.

Spokesman Tom Meinert said via email Friday there “are no updates we are aware of” in relation to the suit.

Ridley, who is now working at a country club, noted he has an appointment with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on July 17, where he will be provided an update on the suit. It will be the first time Ridley will receive an update since filing the suit, he said.

The commission did not provide the Tribune-Review with an update on the case early this week.