DES MOINES, Iowa — Ed Allen, the owner of Zora Rooftop and Bar, is accused of violating the Iowa Civil Rights Act, according to court documents.
General manager Kino Jose and the restaurant itself are also named in the lawsuit.
Montejha "Maxx" Hall, a Black woman, began working as a bartender and server at Zora in August 2021.
Within her first two weeks at Zora, Jose allegedly remarked to Hall that Allen had a "vision" for his bar, which included "servers who were petite white girls".
This "vision" extended to the bar's clientele: Hall also claims Allen wanted to discourage Black patrons from coming to Zora.
"To dissuade Black Iowans from visiting the bar, Defendant Allen implemented extreme markups on certain liquors that were popular among Black patrons, including Hennessy and Patron," court documents read.
Hall says Jose frequently made racist comments about Black employees and customers.
These incidents allegedly came to a head in late fall of 2021, when Allen and Jose began trimming staff to prepare for the upcoming winter, at which time the rooftop would be closed.
Allen and Jose removed Hall, a second Black employee and a Hispanic employee from the server schedule, while white servers were left in place.
When Hall objected and told Jose this was discrimination, she was fired, the lawsuit claims.
Hall filed her civil rights complaint against Zora, Allen and Jose on Dec. 7, 2021, alleging that the aforementioned behavior was based on her race.
The bar, as well as Allen and Jose, are now being sued for race discrimination and retaliation, both violations of the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
On Monday, Allen was sentenced to probation in a GPS stalking case.