Former Hooters Girl Melody Morales Sues Hawaiian Tropic Zone for Discrimination
Jose Martinez, New York Daily News, January 27, 2009
A former Hooters girl who says she’s got the right assets–but the wrong accent–is suing the Hawaiian Tropic Zone for crushing her dream of working as one of its bikini-clad beauties.
Melody Morales said she was rejected for a job by a manager at the Times Square restaurant who griped, “You don’t speak white” and “you are ghetto.”
The 21-year-old Latina lovely is the latest woman to sue over working conditions at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, where employees in skimpy beachwear parade nightly before diners.
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The suit says Morales went with her mother to the restaurant last March in search of a job. It claims a manager told her to get lost, saying, “I am not going to ruin my business with your Latin accent.”
Morales, who said her dream job is to pour drinks while strutting her stuff in a bikini, returned to the Hawaiian Tropic Zone months later still in pursuit of a position.
Her suits says another manager instantly rejected her, telling her, “We will not hire you because you have a speech problem,” and “You have a Latin accent.”
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“They never even looked at me in a bikini,” [Morales] whimpered.
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The restaurant that bills itself as “The Hottest Place on Earth” is facing a $600 million federal suit from four former female workers accusing an ex-boss of sickening sexual antics.
“I believe everything they’re saying,” Morales said.
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But Morales said the place has no room for someone with her accent.
“I guess they want their girls to speak white,” she said.
