A former Hooters server who was fired for having blonde highlights in her hair has been awarded $250,000 in a racial discrimination case.
Farryn Johnson, an African-American woman, worked at a Baltimore Hooters restaurant from September 2012 to August 2013, when she was fired for having an “improper image” after a manager complained that her blonde highlights
did not look natural, according to legal documents.
“While non-African-American Hooters Girls with naturally brown or black hair may wear blond streaks in their hair or dye their hair red, Hooters prohibits African-American Hooters Girls from wearing blond highlights in their hair,” the complaint said.
Arbitrator Edmund D. Cooke Jr. decided that Hooters violated state and federal civil rights laws by implementing its hair policy
“in a discriminatory manner,” WBAL-TV reported. He awarded Johnson more than $250,000 for lost wages and legal fees.
"I hope that Hooters sees this as an opportunity to make improvements in the way they train their managers and the way they deal with their employees," Johnson's attorney, Andrew Levy, told WBAL.
Hooters disputed the discrimination claim in a statement on its website, saying “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The company’s senior brand manager, Ericka Whitaker said image standards are applied equally to all employees.
“As a former Hooters Girl who happens to be African-American, I, like countless other African-American Hooters Girls today, regularly wore my hair in various shades of blond, or any other color consistent with our ‘girl next door’ image,” she said in the statement.
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