The Hooters restaurant brand isn’t necessarily known for being the most family-friendly or having the best food. But now they have another problem. According to CNN, a Hooters in Greensboro, North Carolina is being sued by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for allegedly discriminating against Black and darker-skinned “Hooters Girls.”
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March of 2020, the Greensboro Hooters restaurant laid off approximately 43 people. In May of that year, some of those employees were recalled and brought back on board. Almost all of those recalled, though, were white or lighter-skinned women.
The EEOC noted this change, saying there was a “marked shift in the racial composition of the restaurant’s Hooters Girls workforce.” To break it down further, the percentage of this location’s “Hooters Girls” who were Black or darker-skinned prior to the layoffs was 51%. After the recall, the EEOC says this percentage shot down to just 8%. In total, 13 girls were recalled, only 1 of whom was Black or darker-skinned.
The numbers do not tell the whole picture. The EEOC claim also contends that the darker-skinned “Hooters Girls” had experienced hostility and overall worse treatment based on race. According to the complaint, Black and darker-skinned employees “observed preferential treatment of White employees” and routinely did not get assigned to more lucrative shifts. The lawsuit also claims that managers believed that the lighter-skinned girls “were more presentable.” As a woman of color myself, I have heard stuff like this time and time again. We always have to be mindful of how we dress, what our hair is like, and how we come across.
The specific part of the law that the EEOC is using is Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Some of what they are seeking is back pay and punitive damages. The EEOC also wants Hooters of America to “institute and carry out policies, practices, and programs which provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants irrespective of their race or color, and which eradicate the effects of past and present unlawful employment practices.”
No matter what you think of Hooters as a business, these women deserve equal treatment and a workplace free of hostility and discrimination. Greensboro specifically has a rich history of racial discrimination and racial freedom fighters. It feels apropos that such a lawsuit against a national chain would come from this storied city in North Carolina.
(via CNN, featured image: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
