I remember when my friend's bar was in the lime light because a local yokal didn't like that shirtless male bartenders could be seen from the road serving drinks. The incident 7 years ago is still talked about in the little town of Ogunquit.
That was a bar, in a beach town where customers would be shirtless in speedos, bikinis, shorts. It's expected for the servers to fit in and look good. Most of us laugh and chuckle about the whole thing to this day and thank the woman for the free advertising, but still think it is a case of homophobia masked in a question of policy.
Out of New York, there is a different case of "inappropriate server clothing" that may be an issue of retaliation or a case of mistreatment of a gay employee.
A high-end restaurant in the Meatpacking District was hit with a lawsuit by a bartender who accused it of discrimination after a manager wrote him up for dressing “like a gay porn star.”
Terrance McCleveland, 31, of Newark, said the incident occurred in December 2015 when he angered his unidentified manager at Bagatelle by going over his head and asking an owner to change his schedule.
McCleveland said the manager “retaliated” by filing a misconduct report to the restaurant’s human resources department.
The manager’s report, filed with McCleveland’s lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court, said the “nature of the violation” was that McCleveland “look like a f—-t,” using a slur for a gay person.
The plaintiff said the restaurant played off the incident as a joke, with the manager stating '[McCleveland] wears Barbie T-shirts behind the bar. Terrance looked like a gay porn star.”
McCleveland said he believes the comments were a retaliation for going over the managers head. As for the Barbie shirt, he states it was a plain black T-shirt "a little smaller than usual.”
It has been said that the manager was suspended for a week, but that was apparently not enough as the plaintiff is seeking more than $1 million in damages.
McCleveland said he has continued to work there because he can make a good living and not all bartending jobs are as lucrative, but he also states that Bagatelle and its management has not apologized in over a year and has told co-workers to watch over the plaintiff for any wrong doings.
According to the NYDailynew.com this is not the first time that Bagatelle has been in the news for not so nice behavior.
Last month, the restaurant was sued in Manhattan Federal Court, accused of discriminating against diners who are minorities by banishing them to cramped tables out of sight.
A spokesman for Bagatelle issued a statement saying that the owners "take any allegation that suggests we discriminate against our employees or our patrons very seriously and we want to assure everyone that we do not allow or condone discrimination of any kind.
“While we don’t comment on pending litigation, we intend to defend ourselves vigorously against these claims.” – nydailynews.com
How do you think this case will end?
h/t: nydailynews.com
Vote with your wallets and don’t spend it there. If the bartender is really that good, he will easily pick up another gig elsewhere.
hopefully they’ll have that
hopefully they'll have that many customers for good.