A former Hooters employee, who was fired over the color of her hair, was recently awarded $250,000 when an arbitrator discovered that racial discrimination was the cause of her termination.
Farryn Johnson, who is African-American, was fired because "Hooters prohibits African-American Hooters Girls from wearing blond highlights in their hair," according to a lawsuit.
Other women were allowed to color their hair, but Johnson could not because the suit claimed that the highlights didn't look "natural" on African Americans, NBC News reported.
"They said it was literally because I'm black and black people don't have blonde hair. That's what a manager actually told me," she said.
Johnson worked at the Baltimore restaurant for more than a year, and the punishments began when managers cut her shifts down and then gave her written warnings about the color of her hair.
She then was the only waitress who was fired for having an "unnatural" hair color.
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe it," she said.
Johnson sued the company, and last Thursday, she got the call she had been waiting for. An arbitrator awarded her more than $250,000 for lost wages and legal fees.
Arbitrator Edmund D. Cooke Jr. wrote that the hair policy "was implemented in a discriminatory manner adversely affecting African-American women," according to NBC, and that the food chain had violated state and federal civil rights.
Hooters denied that this discrimination took place, and referred to the arbitrator's decision as "flawed."
"Ms. Johnson did not receive $250,000 in back pay, but rather only $11,886.40, while her attorneys on the other hand received approximately $244,000 in attorneys' fees," Hooters added, to which Johnson's lawyers said she was fully compensated.
"I hope that Hooters sees this as an opportunity to make improvements in the way they train their managers and the way they deal with their employees," Johnson's attorney Andrew Levy said.
Johnson is currently employed as a leasing consultant, and she can sport whichever hair color she chooses, CBS reported. She's still seeking an apology from Hooters, however.
