A strip bar waitress aged 56 - who was teased about having Alzheimer’s and was unfairly fired - has won a $60,000 payout for age discrimination.
Mary Bassi, now 60, was mocked for being ‘old’ and ridiculed for going through the menopause before bosses sacked her.
In the months before they let her go, they also hired younger workers and asked them to take her shifts.
Miss Bassi brought an age discrimination case against Cover Girls in Houston, Texas, because she had a flawless disciplinary record and had been performing her job well.
Her case was taken on by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and she has now won a $60,000 settlement.
Connie Wilhite, the attorney who handled her case, said: ‘You can't discriminate against people because of age, regardless of what industry they work in.’
She added that in the world of topless dancers and strippers, treating people unfairly because of their age was a common problem.
She said Miss Bassi’s victory was a significant step forward for those in the industry, adding: ‘It lets them know that they're not just a value because of their youth.
'They can't be run out of any industry as they get older.’
According to court documents, a male manager in his thirties was responsible for most of Miss Bassi’s harassment, and dragged it on for around a year.
He is said to have mocked her for her age, for suffering from Alzheimer’s when she did not have the disease, and for going through the menopause.
Miss Bassi was finally fired in 2006, when she was 56, ‘without provocation or explanation’.
She brought the lawsuit against AHD Houston and W.L. York, the corporate entities of Cover Girls and Centrefolds, another club in Houston where she worked.
Both are owned by brothers Ali and Hassan Davari.
In a decree they denied all allegations of age discrimination and their lawyer said both firms employed women over 40 to work as waitresses.
Article from The Daily Mail