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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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A North Carolina waitress has sued Hooters, her employer, over unlawful employment discrimination, alleging she was the victim of retaliation from the company after she denounced being sexually harassed by a coworker.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, southern division, by lawyer Sharika Robinson for Margaret Ward on Monday, June 12. It states that Ward, who lives in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and worked at a Hooters restaurant in Wilmington, was intentionally discriminated against by the company after she accused Terill Waddell, another Hooters employee, of harassing her and other female members of staff.
Newsweek has contacted Hooters' media team for comment via email but has not received a response at the time of publication.
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Hooters, a restaurant chain founded in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983, started as a shabby venue in southeastern America only to become a worldwide sensation, using women's bodies as a marketing strategy. The most well-known feature of Hooters restaurants around the world is, in fact, the instantly-recognizable uniform worn by its female employees: bright orange shorts and tight white tank top.
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In 2021, after female staff complained about the introduction of a new outfit that they compared to underwear, Hooters rolled back the policy, making it optional.
Last year, the company was slammed by accusations of sexism in the U.K., with critics saying the chain was an outdated brand that viewed women as objects. Hooters had applied to open a branch in Salford Quays, Manchester, sparking anger from Womanchester, a women's rights organization that said allowing the restaurant to open would go against city authorities' commitment to fighting sexual harassment and abuse.
Hooters has repeatedly defended itself saying that women working at the chain are empowered and embody sexual freedom.
In the latest lawsuit, Ward states she was required by Hooters to "wear makeup, dress fashionably, take orders, communicate with kitchen staff, and serve customers." She accuses the company of allowing her "to be demeaned in the workplace on many occasions."
"Based upon the allegations as contained with this Count of this Complaint, Defendants created a sexually hostile and abusive environment and allowed [Ward] to be subjected to the pervasive, sexually motivated conduct and terminated her for engaging in protective activity," the lawsuit states.
Throughout her employment, Ward and other women were "visibly demeaned" by Waddell, the lawsuit reads. When Ward complained about it to Hooters, saying that she and others were subject to harassment based on their gender and requested that the workplace environment be more equitable, "she was met with a severance agreement and ultimately terminated."
The lawsuit says that when Hooters' corporate representatives went to the Wilmington store to investigate the case, they seemed to focus on Ward rather than Waddell, asking her questions about her personal life. Ward's contract with Hooters was then terminated over a policy violation that was not specified. She said she was told that it "did not matter" and that the company "would find one."
Ward is seeking economic damages of back pay, front pay, and lost benefits, according to the lawsuit, as well as non-economic compensatory damages, punitive damages, and for her attorney's fees and cost of litigation to be paid.
"Women deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in the workplace," Sharika Robinson, Ward's lawyer, told Newsweek. "Anything shy of dignity and respect, should not be tolerated by any employer."
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