A 23 year-old former waitress is suing a popular sports bar in UCLA after allegedly getting fired for refusing to wear a short skirt as part of the uniform.
Courtney Scaramella said that the new managers at O’Hara’s, where she had been employed for four years, replaced her black slacks and white blouse uniform with a plaid schoolgirl-type skirt.
"It wasn't fair to me. It wasn't fair to the other girls who were working there," she said in an interview with CBS. "Everyone was offended by it. Nobody wanted to do it, but unfortunately, jobs are hard to come by right now and some people were stuck."
She allegedly wrote a formal letter of complaint to the manager and Jack Benetti, co-owner, about her problems with the outfit. The requirement to wear skirts was removed, but Scaramella’s hours were reduced drastically. She says she was fired three days later.
Scaremlla filed a civil lawsuit against the owners of O’Hara’s for sexual harassment, wrongful termination and unpaid wages.
In addition, she objected to the bar policy that required bartenders to rate the attractiveness of female customers on a scale of 1 to 10 and give women who scored 6 or higher free shots of liquor.
“She was not fired, she quit,” said attorney Roger H. Licht. “They plan on fighting this all the way to prove that the claims are baseless.”