we're gonna have to settle this dispute in court the food court chicken wings french fries and
Scandals who knew who did the owl was actually hiding a few skeletons in the restaurant's
closet here are 10 lawsuits Hooters doesn't want you to know about improper compensation
not good enough tips are the lifeblood of the serving industry many people are able to make
ends meet due to the cash flow that runs through restaurants all over the country this makes it
an attractive opportunity for everyone from the young and old full-timers and part-timers what
servers won't stand for is an already archaic system being exploited by their employers such
was the case for a Lafayette Indiana Hooters which was creating an increasingly unfair pay scale for
their employees waitresses complained that they were being asked to do many activities outside of
their responsibilities such as washing dishes hosting and other jobs outside their scope of
work shame on you all this was happening while the waitresses were only being paid a little more than
two dollars an hour the general rule is that if waitresses or serving staff of any kind are asked
to do tasks outside of their boundaries that their compensation should reflect that unfortunately
this was not the case for the local Hooters restaurant litigation was pursued and Hooters was
accused of being in clear violation of the fair labor standards act it's unclear how this case
ended up as the two attorneys filing the lawsuit declined to comment shortly after the story went
public regardless of the outcome it brought a ton of bad publicity for the restaurant chain if you
want good service you have to take care of those that serve you discriminatory hiring practices on
acceptable while it's true that Hooters comes with a sort of assumption that your servers
will be women that doesn't necessarily mean that men should be barred from working there
right well Hooters had something to say about that in 1997 when a group of men applied for
positions at a Chicago area location they were subsequently turned away for the only reason
Hooters thought they needed they were male the famous restaurant thought nothing of it until the
men turned around and accused Hooters of gender discrimination there were three men in total and
they each took home the sum of nineteen thousand dollars that should be the end of it right yeah
that's what you wish Steve it turns out that in 2015 the exact same thing would happen in
Texas another man brought up a case of gender bias and was once again rewarded out of court
with an undisclosed settlement while in this case it may seem amusing to some gender discrimination
is not a joke in the workplace although it's spoken about a lot more today it would seem that
Hooters was one of the first first to be caught utilizing this discriminatory practice sued for
weight bias are your body shaming Us in 2010 more scandals were laid on the doorsteps of this beer
and wings Behemoth only this time it would be a case of weight discrimination that would plague
the famous chain it turns out that the woman bringing this claim testified to being placed
on a probation period in which he was told that she must lose weight if she wouldn't or couldn't
she'd be fired what while this is another case of the settlement being undisclosed it is hard to
believe that the woman didn't see any compensation inside the Case Files the attorneys claimed that
Hooters created a workplace that was hostile and downright offensive it's true that the chain is
trying to create a certain aesthetic with their atmosphere and weight staff and there's nothing
wrong with that what is wrong is enforcing these rules and protocols until they become downright
discriminatory Hooters once again saw terrible optics for this entire debacle rightly so as
once again common work play standards were not observed video recording lawsuit say hi
well if you thought it couldn't get any names for Hooters you clearly don't know where this video is
going the scandals would just keep on coming when in 2004 multiple employees of a California Outlet
brought a suit against the company that claimed they had been videotaped while dressing for work
according to a major News company it was found that a manager of the store was in possession
of nearly 200 illegally obtained videos of the waitresses when the tsunami of press came down
upon the restaurant it was found that nearly 40 women joined the case against Hooters the manager
in question who had placed the videotaping device faced allegations of civil battery before criminal
charges were brought the nature of these crimes and the outcome of the courts aren't readily
available but public records of the transcripts exist for those curious Hooters was once again
caught in the crossfire and many questioned how someone like this would be employed by the company
how is that even possible I don't know nothing makes sense anymore not only that but the sheer
amount of negligence it would take for it to continue as long as it did Hooters would once
again fall From Grace in the public eye as the cases continued to stack up against them more
weight discrimination he thinks I'm pregnant that is an insult when the person doesn't look
at fool me once shame on you fool me twice and maybe people should start to find a new place
to grab wings and beer coming to us from Michigan is another case against Hooters that claims weight
discrimination again and again and again this is a more recent allegation taking place just a few
years ago in 2019 a waitress from a local store was told that her weight of just over 130 pounds
was not an acceptable standard for the chain this ultimately led to the weight discrimination
lawsuit being filed as the waitress told sources that she had never received anything but positive
reviews from customers and colleagues alike this would apparently come into stark contrast with
the way that the waitress claimed to be treated by the management it's said that the waitress
felt demoralized and embarrassed by comments from her superiors this recent case has spot renewed
interest in weight discrimination in the workforce and some are even asking how much say should an
employer have on their workforce's Physique in this particular case Hooters would once
again settle out of court and pay their former employee serious compensation it would seem that
when crafting their image of what a restaurant should be Hooters time and time again refuses to
look at the workplace culture they're promoting and they end up in court toxic chemical lawsuit
poison one thing that Hooters has always seemingly Done Right is have a firm grasp on the food and
drink that their customers like they're a No-Frills Sports Bar who cater to mostly men
and in turn serve a lot of alcohol most of this alcohol comes in the form of beer in Mishawaka
Indiana a man was visiting a Hooters location there for lunch and with his meal he ordered a
beer instead of the beer he was served a glass of toxic chemical cleaning fluid that was still
in the restaurant's draft beer lines just the one upon ingestion of the chemicals the man's throat
immediately began to close up and his mouth began to burn the staff at the store quickly rushed to
give the man a glass of water not knowing that the ingestion of water along with the chemicals
would cause an even stronger reaction not only did the staff deliver harm in the form of help
but no one thought to call an ambulance making an already volatile situation worse the man would
eventually make it to a hospital but not before severe damage was done all things considered this
was enough for an attorney to file suit against the chain claiming that the occupational safety
and health administration or OSHA for short guidelines were not met and Hooters was in
clear violation when you account for the fact that the staff were less than helpful it seemed like
a slam dunk case the Lockwood Legal Group who represented the victim have not made comments
on the outcome of litigation but we think it would be safe to assume that their client received quite
the compensation offer I mean you can't really blame Hooters though not serving our friends
toxic chemicals is the hardest part of our day too we're of course just joking while this is the only
known case for Hooters restaurants this isn't the only time a dining establishment has served their
patrons something inedible maybe we'll just eat our meals at home from now on sexual harassment
in the workplace everybody stop undressing we just had harassment training sexual harassment is about
the most heinous infraction that a company can make and if you thought that Hooters long line of
law lawsuits couldn't get any worse you're sadly mistaken not even close not even close at the turn
of the century a federal judge ordered the Hooters restaurant chain to pay 275 thousand dollars to a
former waitress who claimed that she was sexually harassed in the workplace the harassment against
this waitress would happen between 1996 and 1997 at a location in Newport California none of these
allegations were leveled at the clientele of the establishment and instead pointed directly
at the management it turns out that waitresses were forced outside of their comfort zones by
managers of the store and subjected to demeaning and belittling Behavior it wouldn't take long
for other waitresses to step forward and before long the entire protocol of the store was brought
into question as overwhelming evidence like the training manual and instructional videos were
brought forth the Management's Behavior would turn out to be gross violations of workplace
conduct and one of the largest sums that the company had ever paid out out was given to the
waitresses affected while it was terrible that it had to happen this was one of the biggest wake-up
calls that the chain would ever get and how the company reacted could change how they were
perceived in the Public's eyes for years to come racial discrimination lawsuit I'm not using wood
oh the other N word no this next lawsuit was filed in Baltimore in August of 2013. Faron
Johnson claims that she was fired from the local Hooters chain because of the company's policy
stating Hooters prohibits African-American girls from wearing blonde highlights in their hair this
came as a shock to farron who was nothing if not a great worker and excellent with her customer
service farron said that at first her shifts were just reduced but before too long they chose to
replace her no just job no the restaurant manager took most of the heat as their comments about the
quote natural look of African-American hair were found to be downright discriminatory Johnson was
naturally confused and upset about the situation and it didn't take long for her to hire a civil
rights lawyer Edmund D cook would write in his case that Hooters violated state and federal Civic
rights laws and that their hair policy was put into place simply to discriminate against people
like Faron Johnson the court handed down the verdict that Hooters would pay farron 250 thousand
dollars for lost wages and legal fees this was a massive victory in a civil rights respect and
brought about another round of terrible publicity for the Hooters restaurant chain who seemed to be
basking in infamy at this point the Toyota lawsuit another lawsuit that comes to us from around the
year 2000 this time from Panama City Beach Florida the local Hooters Outlet decided to run a contest
for its staff and see who could sell the most spear as part of a promotional contest by the
chain one waitress by the name of Jody Berry was a contender as her and the names of two other
waitresses in the area were put into a raffle to see who would become the owner of a reputable
prize a brand new car from Toyota Jody would go on to win the draw and the time for her prize to
be delivered finally came Jody was led blindfolded into the parking lot of her store where her true
prize was revealed instead of a brand new car Jody was rewarded with a plastic toy Yoda doll
from the popular movie franchise Star Wars what Jody was Furious it's said that she stormed back
into the store where her manager was just laughing Jody didn't find this very funny and instead quit
the store a week later she was convinced that the restaurant shouldn't be able to treat their
employees like this and she was right a lawsuit was once again brought against the franchise and
restaurant chain alleging that this was false advertisement and fraudulent misinterpretation
this is all made much worse as evidence eventually came to light that the store manager might have
known that the Toyota was a ploy all along certain elements to the case will probably forever be
shrouded in mystery one thing that is certain is that Jody was awarded massive compensation for
the ordeal it was said that originally she just wanted to be awarded the sum of a new Toyota but
we'd be willing to bet that her lawyers got her much more than that it seems like Hooters has
true problems differentiating between solid and unsavory business practices and the millions of
dollars that they've paid out in lawsuits over the years are a true Testament to that here's hoping
that one day Hooters can rise to the Paradigm of what a sports bar should be but until then
no one will be holding their breath avoiding lawsuits you take one swing at me I will sue
you for all your worth Hooters has been under a lot of heat and has had to settle more than a few
discrimination lawsuits concerning their hiring process however their company seems to rely on a
loophole they use to hire servers without getting into any further legal hot water sneaky Hooters
servers are not your average waitresses you've probably wondered how do they get hired do they
hold auditions how do they even advertise for job openings what you might not know is that
when Hooters servers are hired they're classified as entertainers the company explained that the
essence of their business is the Hooters girl and the experience that she offers the customers they
hold auditions for their roles and once the girls are hired they're expected to keep a glamorous
appeal dance and sing offering Hooters customers a unique experience this gives the company plenty
of legal leeway when hiring their servers slash entertainers I see what you did there good one