Friday, July 21, 2000
Jury: Hooters must pay $275K
Ex-waitress claimed harassment
By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT — A former waitress at the Hooters restaurant in Newport won a $275,000 award in a sexual harassment lawsuit in federal court in Covington.
It was the largest such award for a single plaintiff against Hooters — a national chain known for its waitresses' physiques.
Sara Steinhoff, a 24-year-old Clifton resident, claimed in her lawsuit that she suffered a year's worth of unwanted sexual advances, demeaning behavior and recrimination from the restaurant's managers.
Ms. Steinhoff worked at Hooters from August 1996 through 1997.
She testified earlier this week that her managers tried to force her to go home with them, and one threatened to tie her up.
Other former waitresses also testified, saying that the managers would “discipline” waitresses by forcing them to perform in the restaurant's “Friday Night Football” bikini contest.
And a training manual given to new waitresses stated that Hooters was a place where you could forget your “boyfriends' latest disease.”
Randolph H. Freking, Ms. Steinhoff's attorney, introduced the manual into evidence.
“In my 19 years of employment law, I have never seen a more ridiculous statement in a training manual,” Mr. Freking said.
Ms. Steinhoff said that Hooters' conduct made her feel like a “piece of meat.”
A nine-person jury (five women and four men) in U.S. District Court deliberated more than six hours Wednesday and unanimously decided that the restaurant should pay $250,000 in punitive damages and $25,000 for emotional distress to Ms. Steinhoff.
“I just hope this makes a difference,” Ms. Steinhoff said Thursday. “I am happy for the women (who) are not going to be subjected to this type of atmosphere anymore.”
Named as a defendant is Upriver Restaurant Joint Venture, listed as owners of the Hooters in Newport.
Shannon Herlihy, president of the joint venture, said the company will appeal. “We will fight this in any legal way we can, because we believe it is wrong,” she said.
Ms. Herlihy works out of the office of RMD Corp. in Louisville, a company she said manages the Newport restaurant. There are three Hooters in the Tristate.
Lawyers from the firm Keating, Muething & Klekamp of Cincinnati, which represented Hooters in this case, did not return repeated phone calls.
Ms. Steinhoff claimed that she was repeatedly harassed by two managers between October 1996 through October 1997. One manager was accused of claiming that any future wife would “bow down” to him, according to court documents.
The supervisors who were accused of harassment didn't testify, according to court records.
Other former waitresses testified that they were subjected to the same type of behavior and that it permeated the working environment.
“The verdict was significant because it demonstrates that a restaurant like Hooters cannot tolerate or condone sexual harassment by its supervisors,” Mr. Freking said.
Hooters, a national chain, features adult themes, including waitresses wearing skimpy clothes — orange shorts and tight T-shirts.
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