When New York residents are hired by a company, they expect the first days or more of their job to involve training. Training usually involves learning about your company, the product or service you work with and then practicing until you have a good understanding of the work. Recently, however, one employee was taken off guard and ultimately offended by the training her new employer tried to get her to participate in.
The woman was hired at a spa in another state. Part of her job required performing Brazilian bikini waxes on customers. While the woman was comfortable doing this, she was not prepared for what her employer would ask her to do as part of her training and the training of others at the spa.
Her employer told her that she would have to allow a co-worker to perform a bikini wax on her so the co-worker could gain experience. The woman, however, was extremely uncomfortable with this. She told her boss that she did not want to be waxed by a co-worker. Her boss, however, said submitting to a waxing was a mandatory. After the woman refused, she was fired. She responded by filing a lawsuit against the spa.
In the lawsuit, the woman argued that she was subjected to sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. She said she was completely humiliated by her boss’ request, and that she filed the lawsuit to help protect other women would could end up in this situation. Fortunately, employers can be held accountable through legal action for mistreating employees.
Source: New York Daily News, “No Brazilian wax, no job: Pittsburgh spa allegedly fires woman for refusing to get waxed,” Michael Walsh, July 2, 2013