Fired Harrah’s bartender presses case

By Liz Benston

Tuesday, June 17, 2003 | 10:57 a.m.

A woman who was fired from her bartending job at Harrah's Reno for refusing to wear makeup has appealed her case in federal court.

In 2001 Darlene Jespersen filed a lawsuit in federal district court accusing Harrah's of sex discrimination. A judge last year ruled against Jespersen, saying a company-wide appearance policy for casino employees was applied even-handedly to both sexes and isn't an example of sex bias.

Jespersen claims women are held to a higher standard than men under the policy and accuses Harrah's of sexual stereotyping.

Lambda Legal, a national civil rights organization that represents gays and lesbians, along with Jespersen's attorney, Ken McKenna of Reno, filed the appeal Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The American Civil Liberties Union, along with other civil rights groups, are expected to file "friend of the court" briefs in support of the appeal.

Lambda decided to assist in the complaint because it has implications nationwide and illustrates a common problem facing many gay people in the work place, said Jennifer Pizer, a senior staff attorney for Lambda's western region.

"This has the potential to be helpful for a lot of working women who find their opportunities limited by sex stereotyping, some of which are lesbian and some of which are not," Pizer said.

Federal civil rights laws have been interpreted to allow employers to have dress codes or other standards that impose different but essentially equal burdens on men and women.

At the time of Jespersen's suit, Harrah's Entertainment Inc.'s "Personal Best" program placed greater burdens on women than men, who were "required only to keep their hair cut above the collar, finger nails trimmed and their face free of makeup," Lambda said in a statement.

Women in the beverage department, on the other hand, were required to wear makeup, including lipstick and mascara, Lambda said. They also were instructed to wear their hair "teased, curled or styled."

"The law has become increasingly clear that employers violate federal law if they require either male or female employees confirm to outdated, oppressive gender stereotypes as a condition of their jobs," the organization said.

Gary Thompson, a spokesman for the casino's owner, Harrah's Entertainment Inc., declined to comment on the appeal other than to say that a federal judge dismissed Jespersen's case and determined that Harrah's had acted appropriately.

Harrah's installed the appearance policy in early 2000 and modified it later that year after receiving feedback from employees and customers, Thompson said. The policy was enacted in response to customer feedback.

"We want people to come to work clean and well-groomed," he said. "Our customers expect to be offered service from people who are clean and well-groomed, just like what any other company expects from its employees."

Thompson said he wasn't aware of any changes that have been made to the policy since 2000. He couldn't immediately say whether women still must wear makeup on the job.

Other than Jespersen, none of Harrah's more than 42,000 employees have filed suit over the policy, he said. The company also hasn't received any complaints about the policy from other employees, he added.

Jespersen, who worked for Harrah's for more than 20 years, was fired in August 2000 after the policy was enacted. She said her job performance was exemplary and wasn't impaired because she didn't wear makeup.

Harrah's in 2001 offered Jespersen her job back, telling her she wouldn't have to follow the policy. But she spurned the deal, saying the policy would have remained in effect for other workers.

The case, considered one of the first of its kind in the casino industry, has garnered national attention and sparked protests at Harrah's casinos in Reno and Las Vegas.

Most case law on the subject is decades old and involves the airline industry, which had imposed rigid image standards on flight attendants for years, Pizer said.

Men have challenged policies that required them to keep their hair short and that favored female flight attendants, while women have fought appearance policies such as weight standards, she said.