Case claims that Mister Parker's restaurant only hired male servers

Case claims that Mister Parker's restaurant only hired male servers. Check it out:
(Press-Enterprise, The (Riverside, CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 27--A federal lawsuit alleges The Parker Palm Springs hotel hired only male waiters at the hotel's restaurant, Mister Parker's.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the gender discrimination lawsuit Tuesday in California's Central District Court on behalf of Lorraine Morton, a former restaurant employee at the hotel.

The Parker Palm Springs, formerly Merv Griffin's Givenchy Resort and Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, caters its 144-room hotel and spa to the hip and famous. It s restaurant has offered $1,000 omelets made with caviar.

Thomas Meding, general manager with The Parker Palm Springs since 2005, referred questions about the lawsuit to his lawyer. Meding said the hotel doesn't hire based on gender, and the hotel's 190 employees include both men and women.

"We have both male and female (servers) and always did ever since I got here," he said of employees in the hotel's two restaurants, Mr. Parker's and Norma's.

The hotel's lawyer, David Jacobs with LA-based Epstein, Becker and Green, was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

Santos Albarran, spokesman for EEOC, said the evidence is based on testimony from employees in hiring positions who were told to only hire male servers in Mister Parker's restaurant.

"They wanted to create a certain ambience," he said.

Albarran said Morton applied for a transfer to an evening server position at Mr. Parker's and was told they were only hiring men. Morton quit and filed a complaint with the EEOC on Jan. 28, 2005.

"At the moment , it's not an issue, but we have to take a look at the harm or discriminatory action that was taken against those individuals," Albarra said, referring to other women who applied for jobs with Mister Parker's and were denied.



The commission is seeking back pay for unjustly fired female employees, damages and a new hotel policy to prevent discrimination.

To see more of The Press-Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.PE.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.
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