OAN Staff Blake Wolf
9:52 AM – Friday, November 1, 2024
A New York transgender woman filed a lawsuit against Hooters for discrimination after being denied employment on multiple occasions.
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Plaintiff Brandy Livingston stated that they applied to work at an upstate New York Hooters three times, attempting to work as a waitress and was denied based on “her image.”
Livingston alleged that the workers harassed them when Livingston would frequent the establishment as a patron.
“They would use male pronouns – they would refer to me as ‘he,’” Livingston, who recently transitioned, complained.
“I overheard one of the servers after I left the restroom talking to one of the managers and said, ‘Why are you allowing him in the women’s restroom?’ And the manager said, ‘Oh, I don’t like it any more than you do,’” Livingston claimed.
After being denied employment, Livingston claimed to ask the manager “do you want to see my experience or anything?”
Livingston stated the manager responded to their request, stating “Oh, we don’t care about experience. We hire on the basis of personality. And there’s an image that needs to be met.”
Following the announcement of the suit, Hooters responded, claiming that Livingston had been barred from the establishment for allegedly making sexually explicit comments to servers on multiple occasions.
The chain reportedly accused Livingston of asking the servers to marry them, as well as discussing masturbation, and even suggested that they would “go to a gun range for practice” for their next visit to the restaurant.
Livingston denies the claims, arguing that the employees were making up claims “That I never said anything about. My mom would take me to the gun range and for clay pigeon shooting, trap. I feel like one of the servers might have overheard what me and my dad were talking about and misunderstood what we were talking about,” Livingston stated.
Livingston added that they are suing on the ground of “sex-based discrimination,” and “on the basis of accommodation and on the basis of employment.”
“What I really want is an apology. I’m never going to get that,” Livingston added.
The suit was filed after Livingston filed a claim with the New York State Division of Human Rights, which claims that Livingston has sufficient evidence to argue that her rights may have been violated.
Livingston’s complaint prompted a small protest outside of the restaurant, with protestors holding signs which stated “sex-based discrimination is wrong,” and “trans women are women.”
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