Chili’s ‘told lesbian to dress gender appropriate’ to get promotion

A lesbian woman has left her job at Chili’s after allegedly being told to “dress more gender appropriate” to get a promotion.

Meagan Hunter said she resigned as a server at Chili’s Grill & Bar in Phoenix, Arizona, after her district manager offered her the position of shift leader—as long as she ditched her shirt and trousers for more feminine work clothes.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a discrimination complaint against Chili’s with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Hunter’s behalf on Wednesday (January 16).

Meagan Hunter wanted to buy her first home with the help of the salary boost (ACLU of Arizona)

Hunter, who had worked at Chili’s for nearly two years, told the ACLU she responded to the manager’s request by asking: “Are you telling me that I need to have my breasts hanging out to be successful in your company?”

He allegedly said: “Not in those words.”

She claimed that she “asked him why I could not wear a chef-style coat like the one he was wearing and he replied: ‘It’s for boys.'”

Hunter said a colleague told her afterwards that she had been denied a different role because of her sexuality.

“I had been overlooked for a bartender position because the same manager ‘didn’t want a gay girl behind the bar.'”

— Meagan Hunter

“I had been overlooked for a bartender position because the same manager ‘didn’t want a gay girl behind the bar’ because he didn’t think I would attract the right kind of clientele,” she claimed.

Arizona lesbian left Chili’s job after alleged comments

Hunter, a single mother who was planning to buy her first home at the time, said she felt she had to quit.

• Nov 29

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