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rants require young, pretty women to wear sexually provocative uniforms. In 2009, Nikolai Grushevski sued


Hooters in Corpus Christi, TX, accusing the restaurant of discrimi- nation for not hiring him as a food server in a filing that attempts to reopen an issue that was settled a little over a decade ago. Grushevski’s suit acknowledges the


earlier agreement, which established that the chain’s Hooter Girls would continue to be the restaurants’ only food servers and established other gender neutral jobs. He applied for a job, but challenges that the servers’ jobs should not be reserved for women only. In 1997, Hooters paid seven


Chicago men $2 million after they filed a similar lawsuit. As a result of the settlement, the position of kitchen help and bartender were deemed “gender neutral.” An EEOC spokesperson who


asked not to be identified as an attorney adviser in the Office of Communication and Legislative Affairs would not discuss the origina- tion or status of the case. “With respect to—


“attractiveness”—discrimination, the laws the EEOC enforces prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex … While attractiveness per se is not cov- ered, any vision of attractiveness that only included young, white, blonds; or light-skinned African-Americans with straightened hair; or men who do not have beards, even when the beards are a religious requirement, would run afoul of the laws we enforce.”


The Ugly TrUTh AboUT beAUTy While few are surprised about discrimination cases in the workplace based on height and weight and gender, the need for laws of protection are underscored by areas of abuse in


TOP TO BOTTOM: JEFF JONES OF LITTLER MENDELSON, DEBRA KATZ OF


KATZ, MARSHALL & BANKS, AND JAMES MCDONALD OF FISHER & PHILLIPS


MCCA.COM


gray areas. For example, an ordi- nance enacted a century ago in a few American cities banned public appear- ances by “unsightly” individuals. Te most commonly cited ugly


law is that of the City of Chicago Ordinance, 1911. Te Chicago Municipal Code, sec. 36034, included an ordinance that provided: “No person who is diseased,


maimed, mutilated or in any way deformed so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object or improper person to be allowed in or on the public ways or other public places in this city, or shall therein or thereon expose himself to public view, under a penalty of not less than one dollar nor more than fifty dollars for each offense.” Originally intended to prevent


panhandling by street beggars with deformities, most ugly laws have been repealed and those still on the books are seldom used. However, a 3 a.m. birthday breakfast for Art Honeyman, who suffered from a severe case of cerebral palsy which left his speech unintelligible, turned ugly when the waitress refused service and threatened to call police unless the party left. Dr. Richard Pimentel, an advocate for the disabled, and Art, his friend, refused to leave and were arrested under the “Ugly Law.” Teir arrest spurred the nascent movement. Te topic of appearance discrimi-


nation swings in two directions, but at the core there is a need to prohibit discrimination in all forms—whether it is because of being perceived as “too beautiful” or “unattractive” or on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity, religion, age, or disability. “Appearance discrimination is


deeply rooted and widely practiced, and there are obvious limits to how much the law can affect it,” says Rhode. “What has been true for other forms of discrimination and consumer fraud, and the last half-century leaves no doubt that legal prohibitions can help reduce, remedy, and raise awareness of injustice.” D&B


MARCH/APRIL 2013 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®


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