She says she complained, managers agreed it was wrong — then her job disappeared
A Chicago-area barista says her supervisor told her the company "should have hired a man" — then laid her off months after she complained.
That, in broad strokes, is the story Jessica A. Wallace tells in a Title VII lawsuit filed April 20, 2026 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Compass Group USA, Inc., doing business as Canteen (Wallace v. Compass Group USA, Inc., No. 1:26-cv-04461). The allegations have not been tested in court, and no ruling has been issued.
For HR leaders, the narrative is uncomfortably familiar: an employee raises a concern, a manager says the right things, and then — according to the lawsuit — the follow-through never arrives.
Wallace says she started as a barista on or around April 30, 2024, and was never disciplined. On her first day, she alleges, her supervisor Scott Johnson told her she was replacing another woman who "could no longer hack this type of work" after knee surgery, and was "lazy." Days later, when Wallace fanned herself through a hot flash, Johnson allegedly offered that he had "multiple wives" and "knew all about the problem." At the end of the month, she says, he screamed at her to "shut up" in front of a coworker — something she claims she never heard him do to a male employee.
She escalated it. On June 6, 2024, Wallace emailed Regional Manager Lori Pierson, who pointed her to District Manager Stephanie Mandarino....
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