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A Michigan man has sued Motel 6, charging that the motel chain routinely puts blacks and other minorities in substandard rooms in sections referred to by motel employees as the "ghetto." Rooms in the ghetto are away from the pool and public gathering places, and they aren't cleaned as well as those reserved for white customers, according to the lawsuit.
Larry Buckner, a Jackson School District custodian, was denied a room at a Motel 6 in Jackson last July even though rooms were available for white customers, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Detroit federal court.
The Michigan suit is the latest in a string of complaints filed against Motel 6. The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division began to investigate problems with the chain last year after a series of lawsuits were filed across the country. That inquiry is on-going, said Justice Department officials. The lawsuit filed in Michigan claims officials for Motel 6, which operates more than 750 motels across the country, tell minority customers rooms aren't available when they are; charge minorities higher room rates than whites; segregate rooms by race; and use security guards to harass minority customers.
A spokesman for the Dallas-based hotel chain denied that Motel 6 discriminates against minorities. But managers and other Motel 6 employees use "locals" as a code word for non-white customers, according to the lawsuit. "He's shocked and amazed this could happen," said Buckner's attorney, Corbett Edge O'Meara. Buckner, 34, and his girlfriend routinely got a room at the Motel 6 in Jackson, O'Meara said. But on the afternoon of July 15, 1996, Buckner, who is black, was denied the room even though rooms were available, according to the lawsuit. A manager falsely accused him of destroying furniture on a previous visit, the complaint says.
O'Meara said that before the July 15 incident, Buckner and his girlfriend were always given "substandard rooms" in one part of the motel.
In the last year, lawsuits alleging discriminatory practices by Motel 6 were filed by employees and employers in Texas, Washington, Montana, California and Florida. In Florida, attorneys are trying to have the lawsuits against the budget motel-chain declared a class action. According to one of the Florida lawsuits, a white manager told a black clerk not to rent front rooms or rooms around the motel pool to "locals" because "they did not know how to act and were always tearing things up."
At another Motel 6 location, Hispanics were segregated in a section referred to as "little Mexico" by motel employees. Lawsuits filed by Motel 6 employees charge that they were berated for not adhering to the segregation requirements and putting minority customers in the white areas.
Motel 6 spokesman Emmett Gossen said his company hasn't been served with Buckner's lawsuit and couldn't comment on it. But he insisted the low-cost motel chain doesn't discriminate. "We value our customers and our employees. And if there's an allegation that we have some sort of program or process where we discriminate -- that's simply ludicrous," Gossen said.
Gossen said more than half of Motel 6's 18,000 employees, including managers and executives, are minorities and that about 25 percent of its guests are minorities. "We aren't going to discriminate against our customers," he said. According to Buckner's complaint, broken or damaged furniture and fixtures are repaired or replaced for white customers, while rooms in the "ghetto section are left in disrepair."
"Ghetto" rooms "are not routinely given a full cleaning -- with mattress pads and sheets changed -- while rooms used for white patrons are routinely cleaned thoroughly," the lawsuit said. According to the complaint, minorities were told there were no vacancies at the motel, even if there were available rooms outside the "ghetto."
The Motel 6 lawsuits are part of a string of such actions filed to get companies to abolish discriminatory practices that continue to bubble up three decades after the major battle of the civil rights movement was won.
Earlier this month, a federal judge in New York also approved a $176 million settlement against Texaco for race-discrimination. That award is believed to be the largest of its kind. The lawsuit claimed Texaco had a racist corporate culture and discriminated against blacks in pay, promotions and workplace behavior. The settlement calls for an average award of $63,000 to 1,348 plaintiffs.
Along with the lump-sum payments, salaried black employees still with Texaco will get 11 percent pay raises estimated at $26 million during the next five years.
Gossen said the flurry of lawsuits in the last year against Motel 6 are brought about by lawyers out to make money. "It seems that the latest trend is for lawyers to sue for race discrimination -- and that's what's going on here," he said.
Copyright 1997, The Detroit News
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