February 10, 2021
Courtesy of Sonoma Plaza
A server at a Sonoma restaurant says she felt forced to quit her job for wearing a Black Lives Matter mask. Kim Stout posted on her Instagram page that she was pressured to resign from the Girl and the Fig restaurant back in September for wearing the mask at work and being “too political”. In a video, Stout filmed herself taking off her Girl and the Fig Shirt and throwing it in the trash with the words “Black Lives Matter” superimposed on the screen. President of the company, John Toulze, confirmed to the Press Democrat that there was a formal mask policy at the restaurant which required employees to wear a Girl & The Fig branded mask, or a plain black or blue surgical mask to provide flexibility but still align with the dress code. Stout asserts this new policy was implemented after she started wearing her Black Lives Matter mask.