Hooters has been a popular restaurant known for spicy wings in the restaurant business for more than 27 years. They have been represented by its attractive and beautiful waitresses as known as Hooters Girls. The Hooters girl is a trademark not only the America but across the world. This image Hooters created has flourished for years and is still going strong. From the exposing outfits depicting sex appeal brings customers back for more. Unlike most restaurants there are some regulations Hooters has put in place to ensure that their waitresses are top quality. Physical appearance and a smile is everything at Hooters and it’s what brings everybody coming back. Hooters has ignited much controversy over the years on the line of discrimination …show more content…
with the servers they hire. This is a unique case of discrimination where Hooters claims that they do not discriminate. The lawsuit case is between two women in Michigan, Cassandra Smith and Leanne Convery the women claim they are being discriminated on because of their weight and believe they should be rewarded for being fired and for what Hooters put them through.
Hooters chooses to focus on surface level diversity in their organization when hiring to help maintain the image of a Hooters Girl. Is being fired for being too heavy illegal under federal and state law are one of the many questions that may arise from such a lawsuit. It's hard to deny the fact that firing someone for physical reasons isn’t an unequal treatment and a case of affirmative action could be used against Hooters. From this point, Hooters will obviously lose the lawsuit. However, Hooters does acknowledge the fact that the Hooters Girl has become a uniqueness of her own and that the Hooters Girls are the character of Hooters. Not to mention, it’s a known fact that a major part of their business is of men customers due to the attractive physical appearance of the Hooters Girl. In fact, it’s obvious that physical appearance is an important factor in this company when it comes to hiring wait staff. For this reason, Hooters action of firing these two women may not be illegal under state and federal law. Waitresses have to comply with company policy and are aware of that policy before being hired. It does, although appear and make the company seem biased against larger …show more content…
women. The termination of Ms.
Smith and Ms. Convery may convey a perception of discrimination like mentioned above. However, looking into Hooter’s validation of Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) could deter that perception. To fully understand the reason for termination one must look at the guidelines for defining BFOQ. The guidelines, reference an employer has the right to base their employment for their company on certain qualifications. The qualifications of a certain class or group of employees must be necessary and essential to the daily operations of the business This ruling allows for permissible discrimination based on race, sex, age, and national origin, which is a direct violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act is a law that protects employees from this type of situation. However, in Ms. Smith and Ms. Convery situation, they may have a met the qualification at the beginning of their employment to Hooters. Consequently, Hooters has the right to reevaluate its employees to ensure they are following Hooters guidelines. The definition of a bona fide occupational qualification has been a complex issue even with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It is a company’s due diligence to prove without a reasonable doubt the job Ms. Smith and Ms. Convery were hired for falls under BFOQ guidelines. They must prove the employment qualification, which is this case the women’s’ weight is based on necessity and the job couldn’t be
done without this certain stipulation. An example of plausible BFOQ is a bus driver over a certain age or airplane pilots for safety reasons, or male models modeling male clothing, a woman couldn’t very well model men’s clothing. On the other hand, not hiring someone because of their religious beliefs or background is a direct violation of their civil rights. Now that there is an understanding of BFOQ, the next thing to consider is what’s Hooters core business. Their business structure is built for food service, with a little sex appeal. Hooter Girls have been a representation of the company since its inception. The interpretation of all the information provided in the case would show Hooters has a viable and plausible defense of BFOQ. Unless the women can prove anyone can do their Hooters job without any constraints. Example would be the Wilson vs. Southwest Airlines and the hiring of male flight attendants. Approximately 25 male applicants challenged Southwest hiring policy on sex discrimination. Southwest’s stance much like Hooters was the female sex appeal however, they couldn’t prove without a doubt a male attendant couldn’t do the same functions as their counterparts. Southwest didn’t have a viable argument for BFOQ based upon the guidelines presented. (Hall) As the judge of this case, one would first take into consideration the mission statement of the company and the job description of the employees. “We are committed to providing an environment of employee growth and development so that we can provide every guest a unique, entertaining dining experience in a fun and casual atmosphere delivered by attractive, vivacious Hooters Girls while making positive contributions to the communities we live.” Breaking down the statement, one would pose the question what does this environment for employee growth and development look like and at what extent does the opportunity for growth and development end? Does weight loss classify as growth and development? The mission statement also expresses that “its experience would be delivered by attractive, vivacious Hooters girls”. It is a company's discretion to select the best employees based on the job description. The adjective attractive is expressed in the mission statement as well as the job description. This leads one to believe that being attractive is of importance to Hooters. Consequently, the question becomes what is attractive or how does one determine what is attractive? Does Hooters feel that these women aren't’ attractive? Because these women were hired, Hooters obviously felt they were attractive at some point. Looking at the facts, it is obvious that the two women changed in appearance. In a written statement the company spokesman gave reference to image. Although some may consider it rude, the opportunity of growth and development came when Hooters gave advice on methods to improve the girls image. At the point where Smith attempted to lose the required weight in the allotted time and couldn’t, her being terminated challenges the question of discrimination. Did she need more time? Smith said she wasn’t sure what other changes needed to be made after losing 10 pounds. This doesn’t like thorough growth and development. If one is in danger of being terminated, he or she should know exactly why before and after they are let go. It is not illegal to fire either of the women because they are too heavy. It is illegal to fire a Hooters girl without giving them the expected image and intricate
In the future Rogers has lots of options available to them when an employee has a complaint regarding sex discrimination. Often times letting a person go, will create more conflict, there are some simple strategies that exist to mediate the problem before it develops. Conflict management and regular meetings with employees can help limit problems in the workplace. Listening to employee feedback and consulting employees with problems can often times bring light to an underlying problem. These problems do not necessarily start and grow from within the workplace environment but have the potential to create problems with coworkers and even management. In this case Rogers had the ability to intervene before Ms. Labelle felt that she was being discriminated against. Preventative employee consulting with higher risk candidates has the potential to solve a lot of problems before then develop into something more serious. An in-depth performance review has the ability to highlight some key areas of improvement. At this point the employer and employee can set common goals and both can compromise on areas of weakness to develop them into strengths. By engaging with the employee, the employee has the chance to feel like more of a person and less of a number in larger companies such as Rogers
Wal-Mart is one of the largest companies in the first 10 of Fortune 500. It based its growth on supplying the needs of people of all works of life at an extremely low price.
The law prohibits discrimination when it comes to any phase of employing someone, including hiring, firing, getting a raise, getting a promotion and other related stuff.
Sex Discrimination in the American Workplace: Still a Fact of Life. (2000, July 01). Retrieved from National Women's Law Center : www.nwlc.org
This is a good question. Walmart started as a small five and dime in the city of Bentonville, Arkansas by a man named Sam Walton. After a great success Sam and his wife Helen moved to Rogers, Arkansas where he opened his very first Walmart. He had some retailing experience after his time in the war and he chose Bentonville for the hunting season and because his wife wanted to live in a small town. His ideas of not pocketing extra cash from manufacturers, but rather giving deals to customers and trying to make profit off of how much he sold, changed the way retailers make money in America. Sam had a cheap mindset, not only for his customers, but for himself. Even when he became the richest man in America he continued to get his hair done for
Employee discrimination occurs when an employer harasses or terminate an employee purely because of race, religion, gender, age, national origin, and/or disabilities. While there have been great improvements in eliminating these discriminatory actions, sexual orientation and/or gender identity based discrimination isn’t
While many people face certain issues with campus dining, one of the few issues that really bother me is the dining hall hours. Ball State has the times listed on their website which most of the time they do not stay true to. Here I will list the times for you; breakfast is 6:45-10:29, lunch is 10:30-4:29, and dinner is 4:30-midnight. While I have gone in during those times to eat they dining halls are usually all packed up and starting to get ready for the next mealtime. I especially feel that they do not stay true to the dinnertime. All too often I will go into a dining hall around 8:30 and they main cuisines will already be packing up. This leaves people who are either working on homework or at work themselves hungry when they get the chance to finally eat. 82.35% of the people who took my survey said that they spent their time studying or working on homework. I asked if anyone has ever skipped dinner because they did not like the food options after everything has closed. 70.59% said yes to having skipped dinner. While this may be a problem I feel that one of three solutions could be the answer to fix it all. I believe that the dining hall could either leave one specific dining hall with all options open until twelve, have all of the dining halls open until twelve as said by Ball State, or better yet, change the dining times.
...are lazy and will only slack off and try to come at my female employees” I was upset but couldn’t say anything. That was probably my only time I ever dealt with a type of discrimination.
Everyone has a breaking point and the fact that some people may be able to handle certain job types more than others does not excuse employers from having a duty to the health and welfare of their employees.
The employment decision would unfairly disadvantage any future job applicants that are considered fat, unattractive, or unusual looking.
Discrimination continues to run rampant throughout organizations in both the United States and worldwide. The Supreme Court case, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., dealt with 1.5 million current and former female Wal-Mart employees that claim that they had been a victim of gender discrimination. The ensuing pages will discuss the specific issues that the plaintiffs encountered, followed by suggestions from a human resource manager’s stand point in rectifying adverse impact within the Wal-Mart organization.
There is a small relationship between fast food and cigarettes where each one significantly causes long term problems. Similarly, eating fast food and smoking too much becomes dangerously unhealthy and both are addicting. However, the difference is fast food started off on good terms. It was intended as a helpful way to provide meals quick and ready, thus given its name (Aldridge 279). Fast food restaurants successfully expanded and became popular all over the world. Despite the worldwide success and popularity, it did gain negative views after weight problems began to rise. The food served from the fast food industry was never considered healthy and soon became the target for the blame on health problems, specifically obesity. Although fast
Are you thinking about going to McDonald’s any time soon, well I would rethink that because there are so many bad things about McDonald's. People need to stop eating at McDonalds because it’s not healthy and it’s not sanitary or eco-friendly.
All over the world, we hear about people treating each other prejudicially depending on their background, ethnicity, or sex orientation. Workplaces should be free from all personal biases but unfortunately, we hear about employees being discriminated against, almost, on a daily basis. Workplace discrimination can be described as treating an individual or a group of people differently than others. It also can take more serious and threatening forms such as sexual harassment. It can be expressed in the form of offensive jokes, unwelcomed body contacts, inappropriate gestures, or even direct sexual contact.
“We need to teach our children to eat real food. No fast foods. No junk foods. No processed foods. Just honest, nutritious, real food.” As the years go by many more people are becoming obese because they consume too much fast food. People need to get in habits to cook at home rather than eating out everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. People in this world are now always trying to look for the easy way out of things. Eating out at a fast food restaurant is not a healthy meal to eat. We the people need to avoid the fast food restaurants and stop being lazy and have home cooked meals everyday. Although fast food is convenient for everyone, it causes obesity and consuming too much fast food can lead to type 2 diabetes.