NYC woman denied job as bikini-clad barmaid sues

[January 28, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A woman who wanted a job as a bikini-clad barmaid at a New York City eatery says managers rejected her because she has a "Latin accent."

Melody Morales has sued seeking unspecified damages and saying she applied 15 times for a job at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone restaurant and bar. She says managers always denied there were any openings even though other employees said there were.

Her lawsuit says one manager told her her "Latin accent" would ruin his business. She says another told her "You don't speak white."

Morales says she was born in New York to Dominican and Puerto Rican parents. And she says she looks good in a bikini.

A Hawaiian Tropic Zone spokesman, Patrick M. Smith, issued a statement saying Morales' lawsuit was baseless.

[Associated Press]

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