Twenty-three-year-old Courtney Scaramella wasn’t happy when the restaurant at which she worked, O’Hara’s near the UCLA campus, required her to begin wearing a skimpy uniform. She’d worked for the restaurant and bar for four and a half years when management decided that female waitresses needed a uniform change to boost sales. She has since filed a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against the Westwood sports bar.
The new uniform, a mini-skirt that fastened at the side with Velcro, was intended to appeal to O’Hara’s patrons, but Scaramella claims that her troubles actually came from a co-owner and management’s feelings on the new dress code. An attempt to explain to management the waitstaff’s problems bending over in the too-short skirts resulted in an “Oh Yeah” from bar manager Ronald “Ram” McDonnel.
According to Scaramella, management placed fans over the registers in the restaurant to blow the female waitstaffs’ skirts up over their bottoms.
On top of that, Scaramella claims that she and other female employees were concerned that patrons could simply rip the skirts off of them since they were only secured by a small piece of Velcro. Management also had employees of the Westwood bar and grill rate female customers, giving free drinks to those who rated a ‘6’ or above.
Scaramella complained to management and claims she was fired for doing so. Her hours were cut and she was let go days after sending a written complaint to the owner. The dress code policy was dropped.
O’Hara’s asserts that Scaramella quit her job and that she was not fired. It claims that her sexual harassment and retaliation claims are without merit.
Source: KSDK.com, “Courtney Scaramella sues over skimpy uniform, sexual harassment,” Brandie Piper, June 27, 2012
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