The scales of justice are tipping against a Second Avenue bar that allegedly forced its waitresses to get weighed.
A state appeals court has greenlighted a heavy-duty $15 million harassment suit against the Sutton Place Restaurant and Bar by two waitresses who claim their bosses were obnoxious pigs whose constant weight cracks and monitoring of their waistlines made them feel like they were being put on display at a county fair.
Kristen McRedmond and Alexandria Lipton have laid out a convincing “case of retaliation by testifying that they were terminated from their employment shortly after complaining about an incident in which all the female employees were forcibly weighed,” the state Appellate Division found, paving the way for their 6-year-old lawsuit to go to trial later this year.
McRedmond said she was “constantly subjected to vulgar sexual comments, comments about her weight and appearance and inappropriate touching of her buttocks and breasts” by her boss, Neil Hanafy, and that he kept tabs on all waitresses’ weights.
They also claimed the waitresses’ individual weights were tracked on a computer spreadsheet.
The women’s lawyer, Rosemarie Arnold, said her clients had been “degraded” by their bosses’ “ridiculously egregious behavior.” “It was outrageous,” she said. Arnold said the ruling was a complete victory for her clients, and they are looking forward to their day in court.
Josh Mallin, a lawyer for the bar, said, “We’re obviously disappointed in the court’s decision, but look forward to vindicating ourselves at trial.”