How heavy is too heavy to work as a server at Hooters?   Cassie Smith is five foot, eight inches tall and weighs 132 pounds and has been put on “weight probation” by a Hooters in Roseville Michigan.  Hooters had just given Smith a glowing, two year review.  However, a call from the company’s headquarters in Atlanta changed the tune when it came to her uniform evaluation.  Cassie claims she was told that if she wanted to keep her job, she needed to drop some weight.  Smith will get a 30 day free gym membership and if she doesn’t “improve” within those 30 days she would be fired.
Smith has contacted a lawyer because Michigan carries the weight discrimination law.
Mike McNeil, VP of marketing for Hooters of America told the FOX TV station in Detroit “our practice of upholding an image standard based on appearance, attitude and fitness for Hooters girls is both legal and fair. It is not unlike the standard used by the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders or the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.”