She quit after weeks in the back kitchen - now she's suing for $150,000-plus per count
A transgender Taco Bell crew member says her supervisor and coworkers called her "nacho man" and pushed her into quitting.
In a 16-count federal complaint filed on May 11, 2026, Jane Doe sued Taco Bell Corp., Haza Bell of Northeast LLC and a string of related Haza and Harmony Management entities in the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Doe, a transgender woman, says she worked as a Crew Member at the Pittston, Pennsylvania, restaurant from around July 2024 until late August or early September 2024.
Her lawyer, Justin Robinette, brings claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the City of Pittston Non-Discrimination Ordinance. Each count seeks damages in excess of $150,000.
According to the filing, Doe identified her female gender identity and preferred pronouns to her supervisor and coworkers. The complaint alleges the misgendering began almost immediately and continued daily, often more than once a shift.
Doe alleges her supervisor and coworkers referred to her as "nacho man," "the nacho man," or words to that effect, on multiple occasions, including in August 2024 near the end of her employment. She says she corrected her supervisor on pronouns and preferred name, and also raised her preferred name with a senior employee believed to be the store manager. The filing alleges neither honored the request.
The complaint says the schedule itself listed Doe under a name that was not her preferred name, every day she came to work. Doe argues the company could have used her preferred name on the schedule and chose not to.
The filing also describes a pattern of assignment decisions Doe ties to her transgender status. She alleges she was routinely placed in the back of the kitchen out of customer view, helping serve tortilla chips, cinnamon twists and sauces, rather than at the front register, which she says had been discussed during her interview. She alleges cisgender crew members were given register shifts during the same period. She says she was also assigned harder duties, including cleaning floors, picking up garbage inside the store and cleaning the parking lot in hot weather.
On scheduling, Doe alleges she was made to start at 6:00 am, an hour before her coworkers, and on one occasion at 5:00 am, two hours before everyone else. She says she would be alone in the store with the supervisors.
After Doe ended her employment, her counsel sent the company correspondence dated September 6, 2024. According to the filing, the company's director of human resources responded that the company did not employ anyone by that name, or words to that effect.
The lawsuit cites the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis for the proposition that a plaintiff need only show "some harm respecting an identifiable term or condition of employment." Doe also pleads gender dysphoria as a covered disability under the ADA, arguing the employer failed to accommodate her preferred name and pronouns. She is asking the court to order the defendants to provide a neutral employment reference and to roll out LGBTQ+ sensitivity training for all staff.
For HR leaders, the complaint puts a point on familiar pressure areas: how supervisors set the tone for day-to-day language toward transgender employees, how preferred names show up in routine systems like the schedule, how customer-facing assignments get made, and how the function responds when a lawyer letter arrives. Doe's allegations have not been tested in court. No defendant has filed a response, and no court has ruled.
