Who can work at Hooters

Stated in the first amendment, we have the “right to assemble,” meaning that private organizations can hire whoever they want to represent their brand. However, the 14th amendment states that everyone should have “equal protection,” meaning that everyone controlled under a public or state-run organization should be treated equally and given the same opportunities despite their religion, gender, race, etc.

When looking into the case of a man who wanted to work at Hooters and was denied brings up the possible conflict between the two amendments. Some believe that because the fourteenth amendment guarantees equal protection and should provide everyone with the same opportunities, Hooters shouldn’t be able to deny this man of a job. Because the fourteenth amendment talks about state-run organizations, Hooters decision to only hire women as waitresses does not go against this amendment.

Hooters is a private organization, therefore they reserve the right to assemble and can hire only women because that’s the way Hooters chooses to represent their restaurant. According to “Bona fide occupational qualification,” Hooters can choose to only hire women as waitresses and not be required to hire both men and women.

Looking further into this particular case, one would think that because of the fourteenth amendment, that Hooters wouldn’t be able to do this without some repercussions. Hooters did decide to make “gender neutral” positions, but they still only hire female waiters to maintain their tradition of having Hooters Girls.

There have been about 4 men suing Hooters because of their legal choice to only hire women, yet to deal with backlash, Hooters decides to open spots for men like bartenders and hosts. This shows that even though what Hooters is deciding to do is ok, the restaurants still need to deal with the public backlash.

Hooters choosing to only hire women is a legal action because it maintains the ideal of the first amendment and cannot be shut down by the fourteenth amendment because Hooters is not state-run organization and because of this, they are not abridging any law that would deprive anyone of state laws.

Image source: Business Wire