Lawyer denies claims in Winder strip search lawsuit

WINDER - The attorney for the owners of a Winder restaurant being sued by four black former employees who say they were unfairly strip searched says the parent company has done nothing wrong.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued New Capital Dimensions of Millegeville, which owns the Krystal restaurant in Winder. The lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Atlanta claims that in 2005 white managers forced three black employees to submit to strip searches to prove they hadn't stolen money from a cash register that a white employee had operated.

Savannah attorney Sara Lamar represents New Capital Dimensions. She tells the Athens-Banner Herald that her client denies the allegation and that she believes ``justice will prevail.''

The lawsuit says one employee never returned to work after he was forced to strip in front of his employer. The lawsuit says the other three employees were later fired after complaining to their managers that only black employees had been singled out for the strip search.