A Michigan judge ruled a pair of former Hooters waitresses who filed a weight discrimination case against the restaurant chain could move forward with their cases.
Hooters claimed the defendants, Cassandra Smith and Leanne Convery, signed agreements to arbitrate any discrimination claims rather than take the company to court. According to the company, it does not impose weight requirements on employees.
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According to the Lansing State Journal, Macomb County Circuit Judge Peter Maceroni stated the women “may not have knowingly waived their right to litigate their claims in court should their claim be proven that they were never afforded an opportunity to take the agreement with them to consult with counsel.”
Smith alleges in her complaint that at the time she started working at a Hooters in 2008 she weighed 145 pounds.
In a performance evaluation this earlier year, she claims in her filing, a restaurant manager advised her “to join a gym in order to lose weight and improve her looks so that she would fit better into the extra small-sized uniform.” She alleged she resigned after being put on a 30-day “weight probation.”
According to Smith, the official uniform for Hooters waitresses comes in three sizes: extra- extra small, extra small, or small.
The suit cites Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination by employers based on a number of factors. Height and weight discrimination were added in a 1976 amendment by then-state Rep. Thomas Mathieu.
Attorney Richard Bernstein, counsel to Smith, labels the suit a “benchmark case” that will establish the proposition that physical appearance should not be a component of an employee keeping his or her position.
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