A transgender Chili’s employee is suing the restaurant chain for sex-based discrimination and retaliation after they were allegedly fired for their “personal values and lifestyle values.”

Hudson Webber, a transgender man, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois late last month, accusing Chili’s parent company, Brinker International, of violating their rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Illinois Human Rights Act, The Independent reports.

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According to the complaint, Webber was hired as an assistant manager at a Chili’s location in Rosemont, Illinois, in mid-April 2025. While Webber “met or exceeded” performance expectations throughout their employment, the lawsuit alleges that beginning around May 1 of last year, they were subjected to “different terms and conditions of employment” than other employees who were not trans.

Specifically, Webber alleges that the restaurant’s management repeatedly denied them work shifts, including on one occasion when management told Webber that the location would be closed. The lawsuit alleges that was a lie, that the restaurant was in fact open and staffed, and that “management did not want [Webber] present.”

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On May 12, less than four weeks after Webber was hired, the restaurant’s manager, Martin Perez, fired them, allegedly saying that their “‘personal values and lifestyle values’ did not align with the restaurant.” Webber was told that the decision had been made by Perez and the chain’s regional manager, and that another employee at a different location had been fired for the same reason.

The complaint alleges that Webber was never asked about their sex or gender identity during the hiring process and did not disclose that information to management. Webber alleges they were fired only after Chili’s management became aware of their gender identity, and that Perez’s comment about “values” was a reference to their sex and gender identity. As such, the complaint states, Perez’s stated reason for Webber’s termination had nothing to do with their job performance and was “based on discriminatory views about [their] sex and gender identity.”

The lawsuit further argues that Perez’s alleged assertion that another Chili’s employee was fired for the same reasons demonstrates “a pattern of discriminatory decision-making based on protected characteristics.”

This is not the first time the casual dining chain has been sued for anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. In 2013, a short-order cook took Brinker International to court, alleging that managers at a California Chili’s location ignored multiple instances of sexual assault he endured at the hands of fellow employees, with one manager telling him, “You are gay; you like it.”

In 2019, a former Arizona Chili’s employee accused management of denying her a bartending position because they “didn’t want a gay girl behind the bar,” and passing her over for a management position because she needed to “dress more gender appropriate.”

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