A lifeguard at a ritzy Manhattan hotel says his bosses fired him after he balked at a new hotel rule that forced him to shave his beard.
In a Manhattan Supreme Court suit filed yesterday, Kenneth Francis says that for nine years, he safeguarded swimmers at the UN Plaza Hotel pool.
In September, a supervisor at the hotel’s Millennium Health & Racquet Club told Francis to lose his whiskers or his job, the suit claims.
Francis told them he grew the beard to avoid complications from a skin condition known as “barbers’ itch.”
But the argument got no sympathy, said Francis, who did as he was told, then filed a grievance with his union. Then he got fired.
The suit, seeking unspecified monetary damages, alleges gender discrimination because no female co-workers were subjected to the edict.
Managers at the hotel did not return calls for comment.