Red Onion Attorney Backs Changes in Hiring, Training

An attorney for the Red Onion restaurant chain, which is under fire for alleged racial discrimination, said Tuesday that he has approved “comprehensive” revisions in the company’s hiring and training policies.

Although the company consistently has denied that it has discriminatory policies at its discotheques, lawyers said changes were initiated in order to correct “the perception of a problem.”

The chain of 14 Southern California restaurants currently is being investigated by the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the City of Riverside for allegedly turning away minorities because of their race.

More than 50 complaints and two lawsuits, all charging racial discrimination, have been filed against the company by people who had sought entrance to Red Onions in Santa Ana, Fullerton, Riverside and Palm Desert.

Red Onion attorney Ralph Saltsman said he will meet with company president Ron Newman today to discuss a 20-page report from a private consultant, Nathaniel Trives, who was hired in May to ensure that the firm would implement and monitor racially neutral policies.

“This will be a forever and forever program,” Saltsman said, adding that he would disclose details after he met with Newman. Saltsman said the initial cost of the changes would be $120,000. He repeated an earlier pledge that the firm would give scholarships to minorities.

Last April, six men, including two blacks, two Latinos and two Middle Easterners, filed complaints with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging racial discrimination after they were turned away from the Red Onion disco in Santa Ana.

After news reports about these complaints, former and current Red Onion employees came forward to say their bosses at several Red Onions told them “to clean up the crowd” when it became “too dark.”

Martin Reichman, a former Red Onion bar manager in Long Beach, told The Times he quit because he was tired of “cleaning up the crowd” and teaching others how to do it. “It just kind of started to eat on me.”

Another employee, who still works for the chain but who asked not to be identified, said that in recent weeks, since the publicity, door hosts have been under less pressure to control Red Onion crowds. He said door hosts now have to keep a written log documenting all customers who are turned away, and why they are rejected.

“We have a more relaxed feeling, not having to worry about one of our district managers calling us on a certain crowd or in there saying we have to control a certain crowd and put the heat on us,” the employee said.

Trives, the consultant, said Tuesday: “I’m delighted that the company is going to accept my recommendations, but I don’t want to say anything until I hear from them tomorrow. . . . I think by doing this there will be winners out there: the Red Onion and the community.”

Earlier Trives had said: “If there is a perceived problem and they (Red Onion management) want to continue to make money, they have to do something. . . . We want it (the perception of discrimination) to go away and have people feel comfortable that it’s gone.”

Trives added that it would be easy for the company to change its policies because much if not all of the power is in the company president’s hands.

“I think the company has the capacity to change because of the single power at the top, Trives said, referring to Newman. “You don’t have a board of directors and a lot of other people.”

In a related development, Russell Kerr, an attorney in Westminster, said he will file a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court today on behalf of 17 people--most of whom are Latino--who claim that they were refused entry at the Red Onion because of their race.

Other lawsuits alleging discrimination include a $25-million suit filed in Orange County Superior Court on June 13 by six black and Latino men. And Sam Crawford, an Irvine car salesman who is black, filed a $2-million suit alleging that he was not allowed in the Santa Ana Red Onion, even after a police officer told the door host that Crawford’s tattered driver’s license was valid and that Crawford was over 21.

Crawford’s attorney, Michael Kenny, said Tuesday, “I think they are trying to change their PR image, which is a good thing.”