I know that many of you are familiar with the report on AOL: California Waitress Sues Over Skimpy Uniform Requirement. In short, the details are that Courtney Scaramella was an employee in good standing at O'Hara's bar in Los Angeles. The owner, Jack Bendetti, changed the policy to require female employees to wear extremely short, plaid mini-skirts to expose their bodies and lure male patrons. These skirts were held together only by velcro; therefore, they could easily fall off or worse, be torn off.
According to the report on AOL:
"In her complaint, Scaramella said that she feared drunk customers could easily tear off the skirt, which was held in place by Velcro. The court document also note instances in which Bendetti offended the waitress, the Daily Bruin reports.
Those instances include one in which Bendetti allegedly required bartenders rate female customers on a 10-point scale and then give a free shot of alcohol to the women given a score of six or higher."
Sounds like a hostile work environment to me.
Scaramella claims that none of the female employees wanted to wear the new "uniform," but as jobs are extremely hard to come by nobody wanted to quit before obtaining a new job.
After a few days, Scaramella refused to wear the skirt. For this, she was terminated. Scaramella is only 23 years old, and has been and is doing an excellent job of standing up for herself. I know women 50 years of age and older who are unable to do this. I am proud of Ms. Scaramella, and I hope she is reading this.
I was dismayed to read a entry on CafeMom that opined that the bar waitress should not sue for sexual harassment and just go get another job. We all know that employers are begging the unemployed to come work for them, so that would have been extremely easy.
Worse of all, the opinion piece was written (supposedly) by a woman. Shame on you, Maressa Brown. Yes, having a vagina does mean you should know better. Unless, of course, you are a prostitute and used to using your vagina to make money. (Anybody think Congress will sanction me?) ;-)
Brown rolls her eyes at the idea that a young woman would complain about a predatory employer using her body as bait to lure in more predators who will spend money for the chance at a peep show.
While Brown is awake enough to admit that the new policies were sleazy, she does not feel that the situation was bad enough to warrant a lawsuit. These are the insults, indignities, and damages that Brown thinks to do not warrant a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit:
* Placing fans around the establishment in an attempt to blow the skirts up "Marilyn Monroe" style.
* When Scaramella complained that it was difficult (to say the least) to bend over in the skirt, the boss's reaction was, "Oh, yeah!!!" (If you have never worked in a restaurant, we have valid and necessary reason to bend over all the time.)
* As stated above, the extremely short skirts were held together by nothing but velcro. That sounds like an invitation for inappropriate horseplay.
* As stated above, male bartenders were instructed to rate the sexual attractiveness of female patrons, and reward those they approved of with free shots.
Treating women like a set of body parts for the enjoyment of men is sexual harassment. Both employees and patrons were treated this way under the new policies.
Brown is quick to point out that Bendetti claims Scaramella quit and was not fired. I'm not surprised he would claim this in his defense. When a restaurant does not want you anymore, they take you off the schedule. It is the equivalent of firing, and most likely what happened.
Apathy is necessary for predators and evil-doers to succeed. When good people stand up for themselves and for each other, we help put a stop to victimization. Bendetti victimized Scaramella. Scaramella is courageous for standing up for herself and being in the public eye. I would expect middle aged, male slobs to have bad words for her, but Brown? Shame on you, Brown. Shame.
According to the report on AOL:
"In her complaint, Scaramella said that she feared drunk customers could easily tear off the skirt, which was held in place by Velcro. The court document also note instances in which Bendetti offended the waitress, the Daily Bruin reports.
Those instances include one in which Bendetti allegedly required bartenders rate female customers on a 10-point scale and then give a free shot of alcohol to the women given a score of six or higher."
Sounds like a hostile work environment to me.
Scaramella claims that none of the female employees wanted to wear the new "uniform," but as jobs are extremely hard to come by nobody wanted to quit before obtaining a new job.
After a few days, Scaramella refused to wear the skirt. For this, she was terminated. Scaramella is only 23 years old, and has been and is doing an excellent job of standing up for herself. I know women 50 years of age and older who are unable to do this. I am proud of Ms. Scaramella, and I hope she is reading this.
I was dismayed to read a entry on CafeMom that opined that the bar waitress should not sue for sexual harassment and just go get another job. We all know that employers are begging the unemployed to come work for them, so that would have been extremely easy.
Worse of all, the opinion piece was written (supposedly) by a woman. Shame on you, Maressa Brown. Yes, having a vagina does mean you should know better. Unless, of course, you are a prostitute and used to using your vagina to make money. (Anybody think Congress will sanction me?) ;-)
Brown rolls her eyes at the idea that a young woman would complain about a predatory employer using her body as bait to lure in more predators who will spend money for the chance at a peep show.
While Brown is awake enough to admit that the new policies were sleazy, she does not feel that the situation was bad enough to warrant a lawsuit. These are the insults, indignities, and damages that Brown thinks to do not warrant a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit:
* Placing fans around the establishment in an attempt to blow the skirts up "Marilyn Monroe" style.
* When Scaramella complained that it was difficult (to say the least) to bend over in the skirt, the boss's reaction was, "Oh, yeah!!!" (If you have never worked in a restaurant, we have valid and necessary reason to bend over all the time.)
* As stated above, the extremely short skirts were held together by nothing but velcro. That sounds like an invitation for inappropriate horseplay.
* As stated above, male bartenders were instructed to rate the sexual attractiveness of female patrons, and reward those they approved of with free shots.
Treating women like a set of body parts for the enjoyment of men is sexual harassment. Both employees and patrons were treated this way under the new policies.
Brown is quick to point out that Bendetti claims Scaramella quit and was not fired. I'm not surprised he would claim this in his defense. When a restaurant does not want you anymore, they take you off the schedule. It is the equivalent of firing, and most likely what happened.
Apathy is necessary for predators and evil-doers to succeed. When good people stand up for themselves and for each other, we help put a stop to victimization. Bendetti victimized Scaramella. Scaramella is courageous for standing up for herself and being in the public eye. I would expect middle aged, male slobs to have bad words for her, but Brown? Shame on you, Brown. Shame.