An arbitrator has ruled that a former waitress at a Manchester-based Longhorn Steakhouse was retaliated against after she claimed black patrons were being segregated at the restaurant. The incident allegedly happened on one evening in November 2016, and there was no evidence offered that the Darden-owned business had a systematic practice of segregating guests.

Arbitrator Joseph Garrison said there was proof that the waitress, Valerie Swinson, who is part white and part Hispanic, was retaliated against with her termination just days after she complained about the alleged segregation at the eatery. Swinson said she was singled out to wait on the black customers who were allegedly being segregated.