MIAMI -- Two waitresses are suing the California-based parent company of a Miami hotel in federal court over alleged discrimination on the basis of race and sex over the four years of their employment.
Plaintiffs Lezlie Benjamin and Latoya Hayes filed the lawsuit this week in the U.S. District Court for Florida's Southern District, Miami Division, against the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group. Kimpton, based in San Francisco, operates 65 hotels nationwide, employing more than 8,000 workers and earning more than $1 billion in revenue, according to the lawsuit.
Benjamin and Hayes have been waitresses at Kimpton's Epic Hotel on Biscayne Boulevard Way since May and August of 2014, respectively, according to the 19-page lawsuit filed Oct. 24, 2018.
U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Mary Williams
"Plaintiffs allege that defendant unlawfully discriminated against them on the basis of race and sex, harassed them on the basis of their race and sex, failed to pay Plaintiffs adequate compensation or give Plaintiffs opportunities to receive promotions on the basis of race and sex, and retaliated against Plaintiffs after they made complaints to human resources and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission," the lawsuit says.
It says that Benjamin and Hayes suffered "a race based retaliation campaign brought about by Kimpton's employees and/or agents." The alleged retaliation campaign included "numerous write-ups and other negative remarks to their employee files as a result of unjustified complaints and fabrication," the lawsuit says.
As an example of gender-based discrimination at the hotel, the lawsuit says that the plaintiffs and other female employees were required to wear "overtly sexualized, revealing and inappropriate uniforms."
When Benjamin and Hayes and several other female employees informed Kimpton's management team that they did not feel comfortable wearing the uniforms, it was made clear they were to do so or "risk reprimand," the lawsuit says.
The two plaintiffs filed discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which issued a notice of a right to sue in late July, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, declaratory and injunctive relief and any other permissible legal damages for their claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by Simeon Genadiev of The G Law Group in Miami under Case no. 1:18-cv-24429-KMW.