On December 23, 1993, a male applicant to the Hooters of Orland Park, IL filed a lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et. seq., against Hooters Inc. and Hooters or Orland Park in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The plaintiff, represented by private counsel, alleged that he had been discriminated against on account of his gender when he was not hired for a waiter possession because Hooters has a policy such that only women are hired for front of the house positions. The plaintiff asked for injunctive and monetary relief.

On March 31, 1994, the district court (Judge Charles Kocoras) granted the defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint on the basis that the EEOC charge did not give notice that a class action was being pursued. The plaintiff thereafter added an additional plaintiff similarly situated and amended the complaint. As discovery progressed additional plaintiffs were joined, as was defendant Hooters of Downers Grove, IL.



The plaintiffs filed an amended class action complaint and a motion for class certification on January 25, 1995. On July 27, 1995, the Magistrate Judge W. Thomas Rosemond Jr. issued a report recommending that the district court grant the motion for class certification. On March 29, 1996, the district court (Judge Blanche M. Manning) accepted the recommendation and certified the class. The class included all male applicants to Hooters stores in the United States who had not been hired for front of the house positions and males who were deterred from applying to these positions or seeking promotion to these positions since April 18, 1992.

On September 3, 1997, the plaintiff and defendant filed a joint motion for preliminary approval of a class settlement. On November 25, 1997, the court (Judge Morton Denlow) entered a consent decree, terminating the case. The settlement awarded the named plaintiffs and all other class members $2 million and provided for attorneys' fees and costs of $1.75 million. In addition, Hooters agreed to create three types of front of the house positions--Staff, Service Bartender, and Host--that would be gender neutral.

Michael Perry - 08/05/2010


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