Melody Morales Denied a Job at Hawaiian Tropic Zone for Being "Too Ghetto"
By Mariela Rosario | 01/29/2009 - 16:15 | 5 Comments
Melody Morales' dream of someday working in a New York's Times Square Hawaiian Tropic Zone was cruelly shattered by a manager who supposedly refused to hire her because she "didn't talk white" and was "too ghetto."
So naturally, Ms. Morales sued, saying, "It was kind of like my dream to work at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone. It's the bikini, I guess." The horror of discrimination apparently knows no bounds.
After working at Hooters, Morales began her quest to upgrade to a position at the Zone about a year ago, visiting the establishment in March of 2008 with her mother. According to the suit filed by Morales, the first manager she encountered told her, "I am not going to ruin my business with your Latin accent."
Undaunted, Melody returned a few months later, this time without the moral support of her mom, and says she was instantly rejected by another manager who sniffed, "We will not hire you because you have a speech problem," and "You have a Latin accent."
"They never even looked at me in a bikini. Not to brag, but I look good in a bikini," Morales told the New York Daily News. "I could have done a perfect job there."
"It is 100% illegal to discriminate because of where you're from or because you have an accent," said her lawyer, Derek Smith. "Melody certainly has the assets for this job." And by assets, Smith is most certainly referring to her 34-D cupsize.