DES MOINES, Iowa — A former Hy-Vee employee alleging racist treatment in her time there is saying her former company's response is twisting the truth.
Jassma'ray Johnson worked at the Park Ave. Hy-Vee for three years before recently quitting. She took to social media to tell of her experiences while she worked there, saying she was exposed to racism and sexual harassment from managers and other coworkers.
The straw that broke the camel's back for Johnson was the way she says she was treated in regard to participating in a protest. Johnson is heavily involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, and she claims she was moved from her normal cashier spot to work in the back of the store the day after she was seen on TV protesting.
"I thought it was really ironic how the day after a really big protest when I'm on the news and you see what I do outside of work, now you're telling me I have to go to the back," Johnson said.
Johnson also says she was scolded for even talking about the protests at work, saying she was "paid to work, not to protest."
"Anything else we can talk about at work and they don't really care," Johnson said. "I've heard managers say inappropriate things at work but when it comes to black death it's controversy."
Hy-Vee says they tried numerous times to reach out to Johnson to resolve their problems, but to no avail. However, Johnson tells us that's twisting the truth, saying they didn't try to reach out to her until after she quit.
"I was like 'I already tried to talk to you and you were amused at my activism. You guys laughed, you guys chuckled and didn't take it serious," Johnson said.
"But now that I want to quit and I'm exposing you guys for who you really are, now you want to sit down and have a conversation with me when I've already tried that multiple times and it clearly didn't work.'"
She also says she brought concerns of sexual harassment to HR multiple times, and nothing was ever done about them.
Johnson has also said that she was not allowed to leave work early to protest. Hy-Vee says they gave her the opportunity, but Johnson says she only had that option when management didn't know her specific reason for leaving.
"[The manager] did tell me I could leave early before he knew what I was leaving for," Johnson said. "Then when it got to about 10:30 he said 'I don't think it's a good idea for you to leave.'"
A protest happened in front of the Park Ave. Hy-Vee Saturday to stand up for Johnson's treatment.
Hy-Vee responded to the demands of the protesters, saying their existing in-store policies already covered what they were asking.