A former black employee is suing Ethiopia-born celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson and one of his restaurants, claiming Samuelsson doesn’t like black bartenders, according to a new Manhattan federal lawsuit.

In the unusual civil rights lawsuit, Campus Johnson says he was the only black male bartender out of 10 bartenders at Red Rooster in Harlem during his time in the position from 2016 through March 8, and Johnson blames Samuelsson, the restaurant’s black owner.

Johnson, 43, says he was fired for “blatantly false and pre-textual” reasons with his employer citing he was fired “for failing to use a ‘jigger’ to moderate his drink pouring,” the suit states.

Johnson says in the suit that most bartenders at the restaurant don’t use the liquor-measuring tool.

Johnson — of Astoria — says his termination came just two days after he had applied for leave to help his sick mother who has leukemia.

To boot, Johnson also claims the restaurant owes him wages after docking him daily of a half hour’s worth of pay for breaks he rarely took.

“It is clear that [Johnson] was terminated on the basis of his race and his protected request to care for his sick mother,” the suit states.

Johnson also notes in the suit the absurdity of the lack of representation, “given Red Rooster’s location in Harlem, a largely African-American community, and its owner Marcus Samuelsson’s outspokenness on the challenges that African Americans face in the restaurant industry.”

Samuelsson — who has restaurants in New York, London, Bermuda, Maryland, Chicago and Norway — opened the Red Rooster in 2010, naming it after a legendary Harlem speakeasy, according to the restaurant’s website.

“I think it’s sad that sometimes at the top people lose touch with reality and could do things that are extremely nasty and insensitive to the little guy,” Johnson’s lawyer, Maimon Kirschenbaum, said of Samuelsson.

Johnson said, “I gave Mr. Samuelsson and Red Rooster four years of hard work…It is despicable that they treated me so poorly because of my mother’s illness. It is also shameful, especially in light of the restaurant’s ownership, that African-Americans would be underrepresented and mistreated on the restaurant’s employment team.”

But a lawyer for Samuelsson, Carolyn Richmond, said, “This lawsuit is wholly without merit. The employee was provided every opportunity to succeed. But, after multiple documented counselings and then warnings, was ultimately terminated.

“The claims of discrimination are baseless and quite frankly, ridiculous,” Richmond added.