Hooters weight requirements

Background Information Hooters restaurants are known for spicy chicken wings, the Owl mascot (i.e., “Hooters”) and Hooters’ girls, dressed in, as the company describes it, “white Hooters tank top, orange shorts, suntan hose, white socks, solid white shoes, brown Hooters pouch, name‐tag and of course ... a smile!” Hooters only hires female servers and readily admits that “the element of female sex appeal” is part of its business, but no more so, it argues, than the “socially acceptable” Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, Sports Illustrated swimsuit models, or Radio City Rockettes. Hooters states,

The ‘nearly world famous’ Hooters Girls are the cornerstone of the Hooters concept, and as part of their job, these all‐American cheerleaders make promotional and charitable appearances in their respective communities. Hooters hires women who best fit the image of a Hooters Girl to work in this capacity.

Hooters provides detailed guidelines on its Web site about hair, eyes, skin, makeup, and exercise. Consistent with maintaining the image of a Hooters Girl, all of its female wait staff must attend image classes and pass an image quiz. Current Issue Hooters is being sued for discrimination by two waitresses from Roseville, Michigan, Cassandra Smith and Leeanne Convery. Smith received positive performance evaluations and was promoted to shift supervisor. But at her last evaluation, the 5'8" Smith says she was advised to lose weight and join a gym, despite dropping from 145 pounds, when hired, to her current 132.5 pounds. She says she was given 30 days to lose more weight, and when she didn’t, was fired. Says Smith, “I had these two women from [Hooters headquarters in] Atlanta telling me I had 30 days to make an improvement, and I didn’t know what I’m supposed to improve. I was proud of myself, working out the last months, losing 10 pounds to get ready for my summer body. For that (phone call) to happen, it was almost a slap in the face.” Convery, who is 4'11" and weighs 115 pounds, says she was also placed on weight probation and then fired, despite losing 15 lbs. Hooters Response In a written statement, Hooters said, “No employee in Michigan has been asked to lose weight and … the company does not enforce any weight requirement.” Company spokesperson Mike McNeil said, “We never mentioned weight. We never mentioned pounds. We never mentioned scales.” But, he said, “We have an image to uphold. We’ve been upholding it for 27 years. Hopefully, we'll be doing it for another 27 years.” Moreover, he said, “You’re hired based on the image you have when you walk through the door.” Additional Information Discrimination is treating people differently in hiring, firing, promotion, training, and compensation decisions because of nonperformance related criteria. For example, age discrimination is treating people differently because of their age. Age discrimination typically occurs when older workers are fired because of their age, or not hired, promoted, trained, or paid because of their age, rather than their potential or performance. The chapter discusses age, sex, race and ethnicity, and disability‐based

discrimination in detail. Despite good efforts and intentions, these kinds of discrimination still occur in workplaces, but to a lesser degree than in the past.

Federal law, based on Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, says that it is not unlawful to hire and employ someone on the basis of sex, religion, or national origin. Notice, however, that Title VII doesn’t say anything about weight. For instance, a professional woman wrote to the legal advice column of the Wall Street Journal with this complaint, “I am a professional woman whose job at an Atlanta‐area company was terminated after only one day. The recruiter told me the owner said he didn't like me because I was overweight and had large breasts. A smaller woman with less experience was hired to replace me. Can I fight this?” Attorney Thomas Mitchell, who was consulted by the columnist, said, “What happened is wrong and unfair, but it's really hard to persuade a court that it's illegal under that context because the employer didn't replace you with a male.” Mitchell is indicating two things here. First, firing this woman because of her weight was wrong, but it wasn’t illegal because weight is not covered under federal law or state law (in this case, Georgia). Second, there would have been a legal complaint if she had been replaced by a man, but the basis of the case would have been sex discrimination and not weight discrimination.

Since the Hooters case was filed in Michigan, does Michigan law cover weight when it comes to employment decisions? Indeed, Michigan is the only state that does. In 1976, Michigan passed the Elliott‐Larsen Civil Rights Act which protects rights passed on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status. More specifically, Michigan employers are prohibited from any of the following: To fail or refuse to hire or recruit, discharge, or otherwise discriminate against an individual with respect to employment, compensation, or a term, condition, or privilege of employment, because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, or marital status.