New York City waitresses fired for being overweight

Pair file $16.7 million lawsuit

A restaurant in New York City is facing a $15 million US ($16.7 million Cdn) lawsuit from two waitresses who claim they were fired because their bosses thought they were overweight.

Kristen McRedmond, 27, and Alexandria Lipton, 25, former waitresses at the upscale Sutton Place Restaurant and Bar, claim they were ordered to disclose their weight and were subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. The pair were fired in July.

The women allege their weights were recorded on computer and the results were loaded onto a website that could be compared to the weights of waitresses in other restaurants in the city, according to the Associated Pres.

"They told me I needed to get on the scale," McRedmond told the New York Post, about her humiliating experience in a manager's office. "I told them I'm not going to be part of your sick game.”

McRedmond said a manager actually tried to physically pick her up and place her on a scale.

"I just felt so violated," she said.

The women say that only females were subjected to the weigh-ins.

A lawyer for the restaurant told the Post that the allegations were a “nice piece of fiction” and that the terminations had nothing to do with the allegations.

Latest stories