Update to court case re: firing women for not wearing makeup

Back in December, a three-judge panel of the federal appellate court
for the western U.S., the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, ruled that
Harrah's Casino had the right to fire a woman bartender for refusing to
wear makeup. This is an update on that case.

The bartender sued for sex discrimination because men weren't required
to wear makeup. She said that being forced to wear foundation, blush,
mascara, and lip color made her feel sick, degraded, exposed, and
violated. The court upheld the firing on the ground that men had a strict
dress code too -- short hair, trimmed fingernails, and black shoes -- so
there was no discrimination. (Women had similar requirements as well
as the makeup requirement.) The original opinion was on a 2-1 vote,
with a very strong dissenting opinion.

However, last Friday, the Ninth Circuit withdrew its December opinion,
and granted a "rehearing en banc." This means the appeal will be
reheard by a panel of 11 judges instead of the usual three, which happens
about once in every 400 appeals and definitely raises the profile of the
case. It might take up to another year to decide.

The bartender is represented by Jennifer Pizer at Lambda Legal.

previous indybay article:
http://www.indybay.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=2772&category_id=31