Black waitress fired for having highlights, whites allowed to
A black waitress, who was fired from Hooters for “improper image,” is suing the restaurant chain.
25-year-old Farryn Johnson says she was let go for having blonde highlights in her hair.
She recently filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights.
Specifically, the complaint alleges white waitresses are allowed to have highlights in their hair, but black waitresses are not. “My other coworkers, they all had different colors in their hair, like red and blonde highlights. I didn’t think it would be an issue,” she said.
Johnson was fired from Baltimore’s Harborplace Hooters in August after managers told her her hair colored violated employee image standards.
They wrote her up and told her to remove the color from her hair. “And they said I couldn’t have blonde in my hair because I’m black,” she told CBS.