Black Woman ‘Humiliated’ After Being Thrown Out of Restaurant Over Her Outfit Says White Customers Dressed the Same But Were Never Stopped and She Has Photos to Prove It, Lawsuit Claims
A Black woman who was kicked out of a Louisiana restaurant for wearing an outfit that the owner deemed “too revealing” has filed a lawsuit alleging that she suffered discriminatory treatment at the establishment.
Last July, Y’Mine McClanahan went to Stab’s Prime Steak and Seafood location in Baton Rouge wearing a floral two-piece dress featuring a strapless crop top and an ankle-length skirt.
According to the federal lawsuit obtained by the Atlanta Black Star, Stab’s co-owner Dori Murvin stopped staffers from seating McClanahan and told the 33-year-old that her outfit violated the restaurant’s “business casual” dress code, saying it was “just too revealing at the top.”
After being booted from the establishment, McClanahan took to Facebook to recount her experience and post a video she recorded of part of her encounter with Murvin.
When Murvin flagged her for the dress code violation, McClanahan told her she’d worn that same outfit during previous visits to Stab’s in Central without issue. She also pointed to waitresses wearing “fishnet stockings and their butts halfway out.”
The owner only told her that the restaurant has “buckled down” on its dress code, which has been in place for “a while.”
The complaint states that McClanahan’s outfit did not fall under any of the “specifically banned items” that Stab’s customers are prohibited from wearing.
On the Stab’s website, the dress code policy dictates that patrons should wear business casual attire “appropriate for a fine dining, family restaurant,” which doesn’t include “Gym Wear, Sweat Pants, Muscle shirts, Clothing with Offensive Graphics or Language, Exposed Undergarments or Revealing Clothing, Cut-off shorts and Flip Flops. Torn Jeans.”
The restaurant once listed “tank tops” as a banned clothing item, which Murvin was seen wearing on the day she booted McClanahan from the restaurant. The restaurant has since updated its policy to remove the apparel item.
Attorneys who filed the suit on McClanahan’s behalf are alleging racial discrimination and civil rights violations, arguing that the restaurant selectively enforced its dress code on a Black woman. All the while, “white patrons and employees at Stab’s were wearing less appropriate attire,” the suit states.
The complaint included a photo of Murvin in a tank top at the restaurant as well as pictures from Stab’s social media accounts showing white female Stab’s customers wearing outfits the filing alleges were “revealing at the top.”
McClanahan’s attorneys allege that Stab’s also committed negligence by not applying the dress code in an “equitable and non-discriminatory fashion.”
“Ms. McClanahan continues to feel humiliated and ashamed as a result of the double-standard Stab’s showed to her versus white patrons and employees,” attorneys from Most & Associates wrote in the complaint. “After Ms. McClanahan left Stab’s, she went to a nearby restaurant where she was not only served, but received several compliments on her outfit.”
“For me, it’s about human decency and respect. And it seems like that has gone out the window, especially in this political climate,” McClanahan told the Advocate after filing the suit. “The message behind this is to treat other people the way you would want to be treated, and that is with kindness and respect.”
After receiving a copy of the suit, Stab’s co-owner Kevin Kimball said, “Without going into too many details, we’ve answered the things and done things on record that we said we were going to do. And moving forward, we’re ready to go to court.”
McClanahan is a family nurse practitioner who once served as the vice president of the NAACP Baton Rouge branch. The day after she was booted from Stab’s, the chapter’s president released a letter to the restaurant’s team, stating that the treatment McClanhan suffered left the chapter “questioning the consistency and fairness of your policies.”
At the time of the incident, Stab’s issued a statement to local news outlets about its dress code policy:
“We have a dress code policy that we ask our customers to observe. A few times a month we speak with our guests about their attire, including asking them to remove baseball hats in our restaurant. Contrary to reports, our attire policy is not new, it has been in effect for over three years now. We spoke with a guest yesterday about her attire and she pointed out that we have waitstaff dressed in a manner that might not meet the standard of our attire policy. For the last several weeks, we have actually been working on a different uniform so that we are not asking a different standard for our customers than we are requiring of our staff.”
McClanahan is requesting a trial by jury to determine an unspecified amount of damages.
“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,” the firm told Atlanta Black Star.