Former Waitress Sues City Strip Club For Harassment
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A former waitress at Scores West Side has sued the topless club for sexual harassment, claiming her supervisors discriminated against her because she refused to tolerate their lewd suggestions and behavior.
In the eight months that she worked at the Manhattan strip club last year, Francis Vargas said she endured slaps on the rear end, attempts to kiss her, and sexist and racist slurs.
Because she complained, the Queens woman claims, her shifts were cut and she was assigned to work in unprofitable sections of the club on West 27th Street. When she protested, she said, her bosses suggested she “sell herself” and “take out her boobs more.”
Ms. Vargas says her supervisors gave the most profitable areas to “servers who acquiesced in their sexually harassing and unlawful behavior.”
Another server told Ms. Vargas she should “keep her mouth shut” and “act like a dumb blonde” if she wanted to work in the better-paying sections of the club, her lawsuit claims.
Ms. Vargas says that since August 2006, when she was forced out of her job by the unbearable conditions, she has been unable to find new employment.
Her lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, asks for unspecified monetary damages.
A spokeswoman for Scores said she couldn’t comment because she hadn’t seen the lawsuit.