• Nusret Gökçe, often known as Salt Bae, is susceptible to favoritism and extra, an Insider investigation discovered.
• Some girls who labored at Gökçe’s restaurant stated they had been advised to put on revealing outfits.
• Different workers alleged they confronted discrimination based mostly on their nationality.

Nusret Gökçe, often known as Salt Bae, is known for his showmanship.

The Turkish meat maestro went viral for a 2017 video exhibiting him sprinkling salt on a slab of steak with arched, sensual aptitude. He rode the wave of his fame and expanded his restaurant empire, which now contains 22 luxurious steakhouses named Nusr-Et.

However a brand new Insider investigation discovered a darker aspect to Gökçe and his eating places.

Seven lawsuits in two cities and interviews with 9 former workers members from six of Gökçe’s eating places depict him as a tyrant obsessive about wealth and extra, Insider’s Sophia Ankel reported. Along with allegations of wage theft and labor violations, former staffers described a testosterone-laced work tradition rife with misogyny and discrimination.

“You are feeling such as you had been handled loads much less, not likely revered,” a former feminine reservations agent at Nusr-Et Miami advised Insider.

Allegations of discrimination based mostly on nationality

Former workers alleged that they confronted discrimination as a result of they weren’t Turkish, and that Turkish workers at Gökçe’s eating places had been handled extra favorably, Insider’s investigation discovered.

In a criticism filed in November 2021, Angelo Maher, a server at Nusr-Et New York, claimed he was fired in 2020 after he spoke out in opposition to what he known as “nationality-based employment discrimination.” Regardless of his “earlier sturdy efficiency,” he wasn’t rehired after COVID-19 restrictions eased — despite the fact that Turkish workers had been, in response to the court docket submitting.

Maher additionally alleged Turkish workers weren’t reprimanded for his or her errors as their non-Turkish colleagues had been. One other former worker who spoke with Insider echoed the declare.

Maher, who identifies as Latino, stated in his lawsuit that he was known as “Spanish shit” by a colleague. He added that he suffered “psychological and bodily anguish” after the office grew to become a spot of “bodily intimidation and discriminatory intimidation directed at non-Turkish workers.” The lawsuit is ongoing.

Revealing outfits and alleged misogyny

Ladies who labored at Gökçe’s eating places stated they had been advised to put on revealing outfits and had been harassed by their male colleagues.

The reservations agent at Nusr-Et Miami stated whereas she wore a regular uniform, some feminine colleagues had been made to put on clothes that appeared like they had been “going to the membership.” 

Elizabeth Cruz, a former bartender at Nusr-Et New York, alleged she was requested by a common supervisor to alter right into a “quick skirt, high-heels, and revealing prime” on her first day of labor, in response to a criticism filed in November 2021. After the supervisor found Cruz was Dominican, he allegedly advised her, “My spouse is Dominican. I understand how you girls are” — which she took as a suggestion of sexual promiscuity.

Cruz felt humiliated, however complied with the supervisor’s request. Her male colleagues started to harass her, the criticism stated. One colleague advised her she ought to work as a stripper. One other pestered her to go on a date with him, even following her house one night regardless of her pleas to cease.

In Cruz’s criticism, she famous that different feminine workers who had been Turkish — like Gökçe — did not must put on revealing garments like she and a few others did.

Two weeks into the job, Cruz was fired after asking to put on the usual uniform of pants and a button-down shirt. In her lawsuit, Cruz alleges she was terminated in retaliation for her complaints. (The lawsuit continues to be ongoing.)

In one other lawsuit filed in January 2020, Melissa Compere, a former worker at Nusr-Et Miami, stated she wasn’t promoted due to her gender regardless of her {qualifications}.

Compere and the restaurant reached a confidential settlement settlement in 2021. Attorneys for Gökçe denied her claims in a court docket submitting.

Gökçe didn’t reply to interview requests from Insider. Christy Reuter, a lawyer representing Gökçe and his companies, stated in a press release to Insider: “The allegations are actually nothing greater than a re-hash of previous lawsuits the place the claims had been disputed and have lengthy since been settled.”