Restaurant chain Hooters is facing a civil rights lawsuit alleging that its location in Metairie, Louisiana, discriminated against Black or darker-skinned “Hooters Girls” when it rehired only light-skinned employees after pandemic-related layoffs ended.
Hooters — one of the nation’s best-known so-called “breastaurant” chains — is no stranger to lawsuits alleging gender discrimination, racial discrimination, and sexual harassment.
According to the recent lawsuit, five Black employees were laid off from the Metairie location at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. By May 2020, though, Hooters began to recall some of the workers — all of whom were white.
“As of June 11, 2020, the Metairie restaurant had retained, recalled, or hired a total of 26 employees, none of whom was Black,” alleges the complaint.
The Black employees who had been laid off knew of the recalls and say they made formal complaints via the company’s corporate hotline.
The complaint also argues that race-based discrimination started long before 2020. Black servers, hostesses, and bartenders were subjected to “frequent demeaning and offensive remarks based on race,” from at least 2017, according to the court filing. The complaint further asserts that darker-skinned Hooters Girls “experienced racial hostility and observed preferential treatment of White employees while employed at the restaurant” and received less favorable shifts.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a...
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