It hasn't been a great year for Chipotle: charges of pregnancy discrimination, wage theft and trademark infringement have now been succeeded by an accusation of racism.

Sheqweshu Clark, a former employee, has claimed that her Hispanic ex-manager assigned more desirable shifts to employees of a similar ethnicity and left "black" employees with night shifts. Clark's complaints to a senior manager were met with further discrimination in the form of a remark along the lines of "Black girls always have an attitude”. She was fired soon after, without much convincing explanation.

Chris Arnold, spokesperson for Chipotle, has dismissed the lawsuit as "nothing more than a series of allegations" that aren't necessarily "proof of wrongdoing".

Whether this is a face-saving move on part of the brand or not will only be decided after the lawsuit has been settled in court, along with another major unresolved one that has to do with unpaid wages.