Gay woman accuses Cracker Barrel restaurants of discrimination

A gay woman who says her co-workers at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in New Hampshire discriminated against her says she complained to management numerous times, but that the problems were never resolved.

Thirty-eight-year-old Bonnie Usher of Manchester, New Hampshire, had been a grill cook at the Londonderry restaurant.

She says two male co-workers -- one of whom eventually became her supervisor -- often played loud music in the kitchen and changed the lyrics to sexually suggestive ones in her presence. She says they also danced in front of her in a sexually suggestive manner and kept bumping into her.

The company, based in Lebanon, Tennessee, says it was unaware of Usher's complaints, but it disputes the accusations.

During a hearing before the New Hampshire Commission on Human Rights today, a lawyer for Cracker Barrel asked why Usher never put her complaints in writing or addressed them during her evaluations. She says she thought talking to managers in person and over the phone at company headquarters was enough.

Usher says she was fired by Cracker Barrel; the restaurant says she was not.