Restaurant fired gay man after he introduced his boss to his boyfriend

A man in Florida says a local restaurant fired him after only two shifts because he is gay.

In an August 24 TikTok post that has received more than 975,000 views, Justin Olmo describes what happened to him after his second shift working at the restaurant, which Advocate and other social media users have identified as Sioux City Steakhouse in New Port Richey, Florida.

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Olmo says that during his second shift, while he was still in training, he invited his boyfriend to have a meal with him at the restaurant on his break. He says that a manager approached them and asked who his guest was. “I said, ‘Oh, this is my boyfriend,” Olmo explains. He says the manager responded with a curt “Oh, ok,” and walked away.

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After finishing his shift, Olmo says he called back later in the day to get his full schedule. He was told to call back the following day. Olmo says he continued to call the restaurant for several days and was told each time to call back later. After a few days, he went into the restaurant hoping to get his schedule. That’s when another manager told him, “We’re so sorry, but we’re not that type of establishment.”

When Olmo asked what she meant, he says the manager told him that he was not a good fit to work there.

“I have no idea what to do. I just lost my job on my second day, literally just cause I brought my boyfriend in to eat with me,” Olmo says.  

Days later, Olmo uploaded another post with an update on the situation. In the video, he explains that the restaurant is a small business with one location. “So there’s no HR department that I can go and complain about this to,” he said.

Olmo claimed that in the days since posting his initial video, the restaurant came up with “excuses” for letting him go. According to Olmo, the restaurant has claimed that he was a “no-call, no-show” to a football game. It’s unclear whether this was a mandatory work event. Olmo also claimed that the restaurant told their version of events to employees and “others who have nothing to do with the situation,” leading them to allegedly “attack” him online.

He disputed the claim that he was a “no-call, no-show,” reiterating his claim that he called the restaurant every day after his second shift. He also said that the restaurant’s claim that he set up a GoFundMe campaign is untrue. “I haven’t set up a GoFundMe and I don’t want anyone’s money.” (It’s unclear who at the restaurant made that claim or where.)

He added that the restaurant had disabled comments on their social media accounts, deleted negative reviews, and blocked him and others who had reacted to his story or posted questions about the situation.

As of this week, comments have been limited on Sioux City Steakhouse’s Instagram posts. On the restaurant’s Facebook page, comments appear to have been reenabled but appear to have been limited on posts prior to September 8. A notice on the restaurant’s Yelp page says that the business “is being monitored by Yelp’s Support team for content related to media reports,” and user reviews have been temporarily disabled.

“I can’t speak for everyone at the restaurant, but they are essentially doubling down and covering up for this manager who blatantly fired me because of her own personal views,” Olmo said in his August 28 follow-up post. “It’s pretty sad that this still happens, but it’s to be expected, especially in Florida at this time.”

The state’s employment non-discrimination law does not include protections for LGBTQ+ people against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. But the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County established that such discrimination is illegal under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act.