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Who is Ryan Pacheco? Burger King sued for firing Long Island employee with colostomy bag

'Inside, my morale was crushed,' said Ryan Pacheco, who is suing Burger King for being fired because of his health

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: A man has alleged that his “morale was crushed” after he was sacked from his job due to his colostomy bag. Ryan Pacheco is now suing Burger King after being fired by the company because of his health. 

The 20-year-old was employed at one of the burger joints in Huntington Station for $15 an hour on June 28. But he was thrown out on his first day, his Suffolk County lawsuit filed Thursday, July 29, stated.

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Who is Ryan Pacheco?

The court papers noted that Pacheco informed the assistant manager at Burger King about his condition the next day after being hired and at the time, no issues were raised. But when the Huntington Station man went to join on July 2, a different assistant manager asked him to “tuck in his shirt inside his pants.” 

But Pacheco, who has lived with the colostomy bag his entire life, told the manager about the bag and said he could not tuck the shirt in as it would leak then and leave him in pain, the documents stated. But his answer did not reportedly seem to convince the manager as she pulled him aside and informed him that her seniors told her he “couldn’t work here due to his colostomy bag.”

Speaking with The New York Post, Pacheco said earlier as a 19-year-old he used to work at a Florida McDonald’s, and never ever faced any issue there. “Inside, my morale was crushed. I was doing something I wanted to do — get a job and work — and not even by the end of the first day, being shot down like that, it’s frustrating, demoralizing and unacceptable,” he spoke about his bitter experience.

Pacheco also claimed that he did not receive any payment for his one day work at Burger King. He added: “I don‘t really care about the money. It’s more about making a statement that things like this are unacceptable. I want them to be known that what was done shouldn’t happen to me or anyone else for even the smallest disability.”

Jon Bell, Pacheco’s lawyer, told The Post, “This is the simplest reasonable accommodation an employer can give which is just allowing his shirt to be untucked and continue working.” The attorney continued that the multinational chain of hamburger fast food restaurants did not even try to find a solution, like putting his client on the register if they had an issue about Pacheco handling food.

“Have some dialogue with him. They immediately turned around and fired him, which is completely disgraceful given the fact that this is such a large company,” Bell continued before adding Burger King should give better training to its employees so that they can sensitively handle disability issues.

Meanwhile, Burger King has responded to the allegation and said, “Unfortunately, we’re learning about this team member’s experience at this time as well. The franchisee is investigating to understand the details.” Netizens on Twitter have also reacted to the whole incident. A user tweeted, “on the plus side, his lawsuit should leave him with a multi-million dollar ADA discrimination lawsuit settlement, so he'll never need to work again (and he should immediately buy that Burger King, fire everyone, have it torn down and open a Taco Bell franchise on the lot....).” Another one said, “Shitty move Burger King, shitty move.” “Sue them, that's plain discrimination. Even if they had a right to fire him, they've given him no warning in writing, haven't counselled him at all, shown him why they can fire him on those circumstances,” the third added.