Menominee - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing a Wisconsin restaurant where managers allegedly posted racist imagery and fired an African-American worker who complained.

The lawsuit alleges Dion Miller arrived for his shift at Sparx in Menomonie to find a picture of actor Gary Coleman taped to the cooler.

The suit says there also was a dollar bill defaced with a noose around the neck of George Washington, swastikas and a man in a Ku Klux Klan hood. The EEOC says Sparx managers told Miller they posted the images the evening before. When Miller complained, the managers insisted it was a ``joke.''

Miller later was fired for allegedly having a ``bad attitude.''

The EEOC contends he was fired in retaliation for opposing racial discrimination.

A Sparx manager declined comment Wednesday.

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