A well-known nightclub owner faces a $7,500 fine because he wanted to hire a woman as a “door hostess” at Vudu Lounge on the Upper East Side and turned down a man who applied for the job.
The man happened to be a tester from the Human Rights Commission, which filed charges against club owner Michael Bergos for violating the city’s gender-neutral hiring laws.
“It was the most absurd thing in the world,” Bergos told The Post yesterday. “They’re wasting resources on this nonsense.”
Bergos, whose Vudu Lounge closed last month, isn’t new to the rough-and-tumble business.
In 1999, his old Club New York in Times Square made headlines when Sean “Diddy” Combs was partying inside with Jennifer Lopez and was arrested for allegedly carrying a weapon.
Officials said the Vudu Lounge was snared during a routine review of the want ads on Craigslist. A student, Daniel Patlan, was sent to Bergos’ club on May 5, 2010, after the hostess position turned up on the classified-ad Web site.
“The manager said that the position was ‘strictly for women,’ but he did offer Mr. Patlan a position as a promoter,” administrative-law Judge Kevin Casey wrote in a decision made public yesterday.
Club manager Michael Stein denied ever saying anything of the sort and claimed the listing was posted without the club’s permission by an independent promoter.
Casey wasn’t buying either defense. The commission requested a $10,000 fine, but Casey imposed one of $7,500.
Bergos said he’s baffled: “We had more guys as bartenders than female bartenders.”