NEW ORLEANS — A lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court against defendant Outback Steakhouse of Florida LLC, alleging Civil Rights violations by a transgender woman who had been employed by the Metairie restaurant in 2017.
The New Orleans firm Scott, Vicknair, Hair & Checki LLC filed the suit on Oct. 4 in the Eastern District of Louisiana on behalf of plaintiff Christopher Glenn. Glenn worked as a server at the restaurant from April 2017 through her termination in November 2017 for eating “dead food,” which is defined as “uneaten food that a patron sends back to the kitchen.”
Glenn claimed that it was regular practice for Outback servicers to consume dead food and that she “was never instructed that servers are prohibited from consuming ‘dead food.’” She also had claimed that “none” of her co-workers was “similarly disciplined for doing so.”
The filing also noted previous instances in which Glenn was targeted, including her use of the “front of house restrooms also utilized by patrons,” in which she had used the women’s restaurant “in accordance with her training and gender identity.”
In July 2017, Glenn claims she was confronted about her use of the women’s restroom by a co-worker, and when she complained about the confrontation to her superiors, she was suspended for two weeks. When she returned, she was told that she was “only allowed to use the women’s restroom if she has female genitalia,” and was further instructed to use the back “employee-only restroom.”
According to the filing, it was “clearly offensive for a person’s superior to stand between them and use of a common restroom corresponding with their gender identity.”
Further, in June 2017, Glenn was sent home from work by a manager “citing that her pants were too tight,” although the manager “did not send any other women home due to non-conforming work pants.”
Two counts were filed in the lawsuit, including violations of Title VII: disparate treatment and sexual harassment.
The plaintiff is seeking appropriate injunctive relief, compensatory and consequential damages, punitive damages, pre-judgment and post-judgment interest at the “highest lawful rate,” as well as attorney’s fees and costs of this action.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana Case No. is 2:18-cv-09217.