Y’Mine McClanahan alleges she was the victim of a discriminatory restaurant dress code policy.
A nurse and long-time Baton Rouge resident is suing Stab’s Prime Steak and Seafood for civil rights violations after a restaurant co-owner refused to seat her for lunch last year due to attire that was “too revealing.”
Plaintiff Y’Mine McClanahan, who also served as vice president of the Baton Rouge NAACP chapter, filed the federal lawsuit April 18 in the Middle District of Louisiana. Stab’s Prime LLC, which owns two steakhouses in the city, is the defendant in the civil action alleging violations of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Louisiana state law.
McClanahan, who is Black, objected to being singled out for dress code violations when, according to the lawsuit, white customers and restaurant workers, including the co-owner, were in similar attire.
“To be publicly discriminated against was extremely humiliating for Ms. McClanahan and, furthermore, it was illegal,” the lawsuit states. “... Mr. McClanahan was shocked at the refusal of service, especially because white patrons and employees at Stab’s were wearing less appropriate attire.”
At the time McClanahan was denied service in July of last year, the plaintiff was wearing “a modest floral top and an ankle-length skirt she bought for $75 from H&M,” according to the lawsuit. She had worn the same clothes to Stab’s Prime’s other Baton Rouge restaurant without incident two weeks prior to the dress code dispute described in the complaint, the plaintiff said.
“Ms. McClanahan decided to bring this lawsuit to ensure that selective enforcement of dress code policy and other forms of discrimination are not tolerated in restaurants and other public places,” one of her attorneys, David Lanser of Most & Associates in New Orleans, told the Louisiana Record in an email.
The restaurant company’s website describes its dress code as “business casual” and emphasizes attire appropriate for fine dining in a family establishment. The management requests that ball caps be removed by customers and that they avoid wearing items such as sweat pants, muscle shirts, flip-flops, cut-off shorts, jeans with tears, exposed underwear or “revealing clothing.”
During her conversation with the co-owner, McClanahan pointed out that waitresses on duty at Stab’s Prime Steak and Seafood were wearing “fishnet stockings and their butts halfway out,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit contains pictures of white patrons and employees at the restaurant wearing what the plaintiff alleges are more revealing tops than the outfit she McClanahan was wearing. The photos were gleaned from Stab’s social media accounts, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit also quotes remarks the plaintiff said to television station WAFB about the incident.
“I left feeling kind of mortified, violated, ashamed and really humiliated because I had never had something happen like this to me as a working professional,” McClanahan said. “You feel alienated and it’s like, well, what’s wrong with me? What’s the problem with me?”
In addition to violations of federal and state laws, the lawsuit accuses the restaurant company of negligence for its failure to apply its dress code in an non-discriminatory manner. The plaintiff is also seeking a judgment against the defendants for the alleged violations, compensatory damages and an award of attorney fees and case costs.
