Dennis RomeroA 23-year-old waitress named Courtney Scaramella is suing a Westwood bar for allegedly making her and other female employees wear short, school-girl-style plaid skirts at work.
The suit, which came to light over the weekend via the UCLA Daily Bruin, claims that O'Hara's bar manager Ronald “Ram” McDonnel enforced the dress code as a way of increasing profits, ostensibly from male drinkers.
At one point, the suit claims, Scaramella demonstrated how hard it was to bend down in the skirt:
McDonnel allegedly said, in a pervy manner, “Oh, yeah!”
But that wasn't the end for Scaramella, according to the suit. Only days after she handed a written complaint about the dress code to management, at which point the bar relaxed the rules, her hours were cut and then she was fired, the suit claims.
She told KTLA News that the policy was loathed by the women who worked at the bar near campus.
It wasn't fair to me, it wasn't fair to the other girls who were working there. Everyone was offended by it. Nobody wanted to do it, but unfortunately, jobs are hard to come by right now and some people were stuck.
The suit paints a picture of a sexually charged environment at the bar, where female patrons were rated for their looks and attractive ones were then given free drinks. According to the Bruin's take on the filing:
She alleges that Bendetti objectified the women on staff by forcing them to wear revealing uniforms as a way to increase the bar's profits. Scaramella said in the complaint she feared that drunk customers could easily tear off the short, plaid skirt – secured only by Velcro – that female workers were required to wear as part of the bar's dress code.
Scaramella had been working there since 2007, according to the filing.
The bar's attorney told KTLA the suit has no merit and that Scaramella quit — she wasn't fired.
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