ShareThisHooters managers scrutinize everything from employees' hair and fingernails to their skimpy uniforms, and require them to make unpaid promotional appearances, a class action suit filed on behalf of 1,000 California restaurant workers claims.
Employees of five Hooters restaurants in the Sacramento area, Fresno and Bakersfield have filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against the business owners, charging that employees are treated unfairly under California labor laws.
In a complaint filed in Sacramento Superior Court this week, employees claim they paid for their own uniforms, worked through breaks, worked "off the clock" without pay and had their tips skimmed by management.
The suit was filed on behalf of about 1,000 employees who currently work at the restaurants or did so within the past five years, said Burton Boltuch, an attorney hired to represent them.
Each restaurant is separately incorporated, but all of them are owned by Parco Holdings. The company couldn't be reached for comment. Hooters has two restaurants in Sacramento and one in Rancho Cordova.
Though the Atlanta-based restaurant chain is renowned for its scantily clad female servers, the lawsuit extends to all hourly workers, Boltuch said.
Employees who work more than five-hour shifts are not getting their 30-minute meal break mandated by law, he said.
Boltuch said the female servers must make promotional public appearances, at golf tournaments, for instance, and are not legally compensated. They also spend time doing paperwork at the restaurant after clocking out, he said.
They must purchase the components of their uniform - orange shorts, logo tank top, socks, pantyhose and shoes - from Hooters because the restaurant commands a certain look, Boltuch said.
Under California law, an employer is obligated to pay for any specialized uniform, he said.
The cost of the Hooters uniform: anywhere from $3 to $4 for the open-foot, suntan pantyhose, up to $55 for the shoes, Boltuch said.
"They are never allowed to wear it away from the restaurant," he said.
Managers scrutinize the appearance of female employees and demand changes if they don't like what they see, Boltuch said.
If their hair is imperfect, nail polish too dark, or they have some other perceived flaw, the women must correct it on their own time, he said.
"They could spend a half hour to 45 minutes getting ready for the Hooters look," he said.
Boltuch and several other attorneys have filed two other lawsuits alleging similar violations against Hooters restaurants in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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