Fired Waitress Hair Issue Goes To Court (VIDEO)
Fired Waitress hair is the center of the issue. Hooters waitress sues over haircut from racial discrimination. The popular restaurant chain Hooters is accused of racial discrimination by a former employee in Baltimore. And it all centers around her hair.
Derek Valcourt has more on her complaint.
Specifically, the complaint alleges white waitresses are allowed to have highlights in their hair, but black waitresses are not.
Farryn Johnson’s blonde highlights are now at the center of a complaint filed with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.
“My other co-workers, they all had different colors in their hair, like red and blonde highlights. I didn’t think it would be an issue,” she said.
Johnson, 25, was fired from her job as a waitress at Baltimore’s Harborplace Hooters in August after she was told by managers her hair color violated employee image standards.
“They gave me write-ups and they told me I need to take the color out of my hair. And they said I couldn’t have blonde in my hair because I’m black. They specifically said, ‘Black women don’t have blonde in their hair, so you need to take it out,'” said Johnson.
Jessica Weber is Johnson’s attorney.
“What’s wrong is that both federal and state law clearly say employers can’t impose two separate and distinct rules governing employee standards–one for African-American employees and one for everyone else. And that’s clearly what Hooters did here,” said attorney Weber, Brown Goldstein Levy.
“Why don’t we just not define hairstyles for anyone?” said Delegate Mary Washington, (D) Baltimore.
Delegate Washington agrees. Employers need to be able to define personal appearance and grooming standards, but she’s already drafting legislation that would prevent employers from requiring or prohibiting specific hairstyles.
She says Farryn Johnson is just one of many examples.
“Also, there’s some women and men who are told to dye their hair, that if they are gray, somehow they are not projecting a youthful image. So I think really further clarifying hair and restricting employers from doing that, will help all kinds of people,” said Washington.
Hooters of America declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The case is now in the hands of the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, whose investigation could take months.
Washington expects her bill to be pre-filed for the next legislative session in Annapolis.
VIDEO
[…] sues over haircut from racial discrimination. The popular restaurant chain Hooters is accused Continue reading10/23/2013 · Fired Waitress Hair, An African-American woman is alleging she was fired […]
I don’t see any problem with her hair. It looks nice. I haven’t heard anything about someone getting fired for having pants drooping down to their knees, just ladies with nice hair.
She looks like a lesbian that’s why they fired her.
some blacks look as suing people as another form of welfare.
as they like to say ‘I’m gonna get me a peice of that place.’
I bet the grey haired employees have not filed suit. It seems so many blacks look for ANY excuse to sue on grounds of racial discrimination. Did they hire her? Yes, they did. What ever happened to people being able to choose their employees and how they want them to look and act? What’s more important to this lady, her hair color or her job? Everyone wants to make a quick killing by suing and the lawyers EAT IT UP!
violet miller, Employers can tell their employees how to look and act. The problem is when White employees can dye and color their hair w/o consequence, but when the Black employees do the same they get written up and eventually fired. You must have missed that in the article.
Of course this may not represent the whole Hooters chain but rather of this particular store’s management.
Blonde highlights are prohibited as “unnatural”…..but artificially straightened hair is OK? Who makes such a rule and what the hell are they thinking?
She looks like a lesbian?
“Blacks” like to sue?
LOL….is it just me…..or is this society getting sicker by the day?