Hooters lawsuit: Male Hooters stopped short.

from : http://blogs.houstonpress.com

Nikolai Grushevski, a man from Corpus Christi, has filed a lawsuit because Hooters wouldn't let him work as a waiter, which we guess would be called a Hooters Boy.

"Hooters tries to circumvent the law by referring to its waiters as 'Hooters Girls.' Hooters is wrong," claims the lawsuit, filed yesterday in federal court in Corpus. "Just as Southwest Airlines attempted nearly three decades ago with stewardesses, the waiter's position addressed herein is being limited to females by an employer '...who merely wishes to exploit female sexuality as a marketing tool to attract customers and insure profitability.'"

Exactly. Thankfully, the lawsuit says that Grushevski isn't trying to stop the restaurant from hiring Hooters Girls.


According to the lawsuit, Grushevski applied in person at a Corpus Christi Hooters, where the manager told him that the restaurant - locally and nationally - doesn't hire men as waiters. The lawsuit calls Hooters "brazen" for denying men the Hooters Girl right, and says that Grushevski didn't want to be a Hooters Girl, he simply wanted to be a food server.

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 and bartender were deemed "gender neutral."

Hair Balls couldn't reach Grushevski or his lawyer, and a Hooters spokeswoman (no spokesman?!) hasn't responded either. We'll post an update as soon as we hear back from either.

Update: Alexis Aleshire, a spokeswoman for Hooters, e-mailed us some information about another federal lawsuit that eventually determined that in order to be a Hooters Girl, you must be a woman.

Aleshire also included a comment from Mike McNeil, vice president of marketing for Hooters of America: "The good news is that when this happened the last time, Hooters benefitted from an avalanche of positive publicity and public support for keeping Hooters Girls, well, girls. If we lose this go around, you can next expect hairy legged guys in the Rockettes to line up and male models in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. You wonder why people just can't leave good things alone."

Storkcraft Product Recall

From http://www.cpsc.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Stork Craft Baby Cribs

Units: About 535,000

Manufacturer: Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc., of British Columbia, Canada

Hazard: The metal support brackets used to support the crib mattress and mattress board can crack and break. When one or more support brackets break, the mattress can collapse and create a dangerous gap between the mattress and crib rails, in which a child can become entrapped and suffocate.

Incidents/Injuries: CPSC is aware of 10 incidents in which one or more mattress support brackets broke. In several incidents, the support bracket broke causing the mattress to collapse and create a gap between the mattress and crib rails. CPSC received a report of a toddler who sustained bruises to his forehead. In another incident a child reportedly became entrapped in the gap between the mattress and the drop side rail with no injury.

Description: This recall involves Stork Craft Baby cribs. All cribs with manufacturing and distribution dates between May 2000 and November 2008 are included in this recall. The cribs were sold in various styles and finishes. The manufacture date, model number, crib name, country of origin, and the firm’s name, address, and contact information are located on the assembly instruction sheet attached to the mattress support board. The firm’s insignia “storkcraft baby” is inscribed on the drop side teething rail of some cribs.

Sold at: Major retailers including J.C. Penney, Kmart and Walmart stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com, Babiesrus.com, Costco.com and Walmart.com from May 2000 through January 2009 for between $100 and $400.

Manufactured in: Canada, China and Indonesia

Remedy: CPSC urges parents and caregivers to immediately stop using the recalled cribs and find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby. Consumers should contact Stork Craft to receive a free replacement kit, with new mattress support brackets.

Consumer Contact: Contact Stork Craft toll-free at (866) 361-3321 anytime to order the free replacement kit or log on to www.storkcraft.com