Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
10. PLAINTIFF JANE DOE 1 commenced employment with DEFENDANT STARS in or about April 1998 as a waitress. At no time was PLAINTIFF DOE 1 employed as a stripper.
11. PLAINTIFF JANE DOE 2 commenced employment with DEFENDANT STARS in or about April 1998 as a waitress. At no time was PLAINTIFF DOE 2 employed as a stripper.
12. PLAINTIFF JANE DOE 3 commenced employment with DEFENDANT STARS in or about April 1998 as a waitress. At no time was PLAINTIFF DOE 3 employed as a stripper.
13. Upon the commencement of their employment, all PLAINTIFFS were instructed to wear a black skirt and white shirt of their choosing as proper work attire for waitresses. Thereupon, each PLAINTIFF selected an appropriate black skirt and white shirt to wear to work at Stars each day.
14. Shortly after the commencement of her employment with DEFENDANT STARS, PLAINTIFF DOE 1 was promoted from waitress to bartender. Thereafter, PLAINTIFF DOE 1 was promoted again, to assistant manager.
15. In or about September, 1998, Stars manager Bennie Brown informed PLAINTIFF DOE 1 that there would be no more women behind the bar, and that effective immediately, female employees would be eligible for positions only as waitresses or strippers. Thereupon PLAINTIFF DOE 1 was immediately demoted back to the position of waitress, where she earned less income and had less opportunity for advancement than in either the bartender or assistant manager position. After that time, all food servers at Stars, Sacramento Club were female, and all bartenders and management were male.
16. In or about September, 1998, all PLAINTIFFS were informed that they would no longer be permitted to wear to work the black skirt and white shirt of their choosing as they had previously worn. Instead, they would now be required to wear a very skimpy and demeaning uniform consisting of stretch hot pants that reveal substantial portions of the wearer’s naked buttocks and a tiny midriff stretch top which exposes all of the wearer’s stomach. PLAINTIFFS were informed that all waitresses would be required to wear this uniform from that point forward.
17. Requiring PLAINTIFFS to wear this uniform created a hostile and offensive work environment as it could reasonably be expected that PLAINTIFFS would be subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment if they wore the sexually suggestive uniforms.
18. Male employees of Stars were not required to wear any type of demeaning or skimpy ensemble to work, but instead, at all times male employees were permitted to wear black pants and a white shirt of their choosing.
19. Each PLAINTIFF refused to wear the uniform and each PLAINTIFF was terminated from her employment as a result.
20. Each PLAINTIFF filed a charge of discrimination with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing ( DFEH ) against Defendants herein in or about November 1998. The DFEH issued to PLAINTIFFS Right to Sue Letters in or about November 1998. (See Part 3 of 7.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.