Job Applicant Sues New York City's Hawaiian Tropic Zone for Discrimination
Last week, the New York Post published an article about a New York woman who applied for a job as a waitress at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Times Square and was repeatedly denied employment by a manager who ultimately stated that she was too “ghetto,” and that he did not wish to “ruin [his] business with [her] Latin accent.” She was also told that she did not “speak white.” The woman was born in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican and Dominican parents and speaks English fluently. She was initially told by the manager that there were no jobs available, despite being informed by other employees that the restaurant was hiring.
Under both Federal and New York State law, it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a prospective employee on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Refusal to hire based on stereotypical differences, traits or assumptions about the individual based upon race or national origin is also prohibited under the law.
The woman is seeking $500 a day - or $130,000 a year - for every year she could reasonably be expected to have worked there, plus punitive damages. Punitive damages are granted both as a means of punishing employers for their discriminatory conduct and as an effort to signal to other employers that they should not engage in similarly unlawful conduct.
