Exclusive | Gregorys Coffee shockingly discriminated against blacks, women, lawsuit claims

The popular hip Gregorys Coffee chain has routinely discriminated against black workers and protected male employees accused of sexual harassment, according to a bombshell new lawsuit.

Gregorys’ owner, Gregory Zamfotis, openly displayed a bias for white and male employees and a disdain for black women who worked at the trendy brand he founded in Manhattan in 2005 and now boasts nearly 50 locations nationwide, says the suit filed by the company’s female former human-resources vice president.

Jessica Day began working at Gregorys Coffee as the veep of HR in 2022 and claims in court papers that she was “confronted time and again with blatant violations of discrimination and related laws.”

The company’s owner “was not only aware of this conduct but condoned and often directed it,” her suit says.

Zamfotis did not reply to Post requests for comment.

In 2023, the Big Apple-based business paid $200,000 to 200 of its baristas to settle a class-action suit over claims the chain denied them overtime pay.

In Day’s suit, she alleges that Zamfotis once tried to fire a black worker as she looked to confirm her return from a legal leave of absence, with him claiming she was a “bad” employee. 

Day pushed him for examples of the worker’s performance issues — adding that the woman’s manager “described her as ‘amazing’” — but all Zamfotis “could muster was that he did not think she smiled enough,” the suit claims.

The only black woman in corporate leadership at the chain also found herself facing Zamfotis’s ire when she took medical leave, the documents allege.

Zamfotis “became fixated on her absence,” Day’s suit claims.

“Zamfotis even wanted to ensure that the employee would not receive any compensation while she was on leave, despite the fact that she was entitled to use paid leave,” according to the lawsuit. 

The suit also detailed a meeting where Zamfotis allegedly went on a “tirade” about another black female worker, “incensed that she had been hired because she was missing a tooth.

“He stood up in the meeting and engaged in an offensive caricature of ‘black’ behavior,” the suit says.

In another instance of shameful antics, when a female worker at a store complained about a “hostile” male manager, Zamfotis told Day he had conducted his “own investigation” — and then ordered the woman to be fired, the suit says.

Zamfotis also demanded that a new hire — a “white, male barista” — be paid a salary of $75,000, while the black female store manager was paid “$20,000 less than the white, male barista Zamfotis favored,” the suit alleges.

Day said she confronted Zamfotis in December 2023 about his “unlawful actions,” saying they were “text book examples of what is against the law.

“You’re going to get the s— sued out you [sic],” the suit claims she said.

After Zamfotis iced out Day, refusing to communicate with her over her protests, she submitted her resignation, the court documents say.

“We recognize that when an individual takes legal action against an employer, it requires a great deal of grit and courage,” Day’s lawyer, Seth Rafkin, said in a statement. “Our client and our firm are hopeful that this case will address not only her claims but also help others dealing with similar circumstances.”

Zamfotis started the hipster coffee shop in 2005 with a “kick start” from his restaurateur father, who ran several fast-food joints in the area over the years, he told greenwichmoms.com.