A Black woman who says she was kicked out of a Louisiana restaurant because of her outfit has filed a lawsuit, accusing the restaurant of racial discrimination and unfair treatment.
Last July, 33-year-old Y’Mine McClanahan went to Stab’s Prime Steak and Seafood in Baton Rouge wearing a floral two-piece outfit, with a strapless crop top and a long ankle-length skirt.
According to a lawsuit obtained by Atlanta Black Star, co-owner Dori Murvin stopped McClanahan from being seated, saying her outfit was “too revealing at the top” and violated the restaurant’s “business casual” dress code.
What Happened at the Restaurant
McClanahan said this wasn’t the first time she wore the outfit to a Stab’s location. She told Murvin she had worn the same outfit at the Stab’s in Central without any issues. She also pointed out that some of the restaurant’s own waitresses wore “fishnet stockings and their butts halfway out,” but no one said anything to them.
Murvin replied that the restaurant had recently “buckled down” on enforcing its dress code, though McClanahan’s attorneys argue her outfit did not break any listed dress code rules.
The restaurant’s website asks customers to wear business casual attire and bans clothes like gym wear, sweatpants, cut-off shorts, flip-flops, torn jeans, and revealing clothing.
Interestingly, the website once also banned “tank tops” — yet photos show Murvin herself wearing a tank top the day she removed McClanahan. Since then, Stab’s updated its dress code and removed the ban on tank tops.
The Discrimination Lawsuit
McClanahan’s attorneys claim the restaurant treated her unfairly because of her race. The lawsuit says Stab’s selectively enforced its dress code against her while letting white patrons and employees wear even more revealing clothing.
As part of the lawsuit, McClanahan’s legal team included pictures showing white customers at Stab’s wearing low-cut tops and other revealing outfits. They also included a photo of Murvin in a tank top at the restaurant.
The lawsuit accuses Stab’s of negligence for not applying the dress code fairly and claims that McClanahan felt humiliated by the double standard. After leaving Stab’s, she went to another nearby restaurant, where she was welcomed warmly and even complimented on her outfit.
“For me, it’s about human decency and respect,” McClanahan said after filing the lawsuit. “The message behind this is to treat others the way you would want to be treated, with kindness and respect.”
The Restaurant’s Response
After the lawsuit was filed, Stab’s co-owner Kevin Kimball said, “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.”
Previously, after the incident, Stab’s issued a public statement saying that their dress code has been in place for over three years and that they talk to guests a few times a month about attire. They admitted that their staff’s uniforms might not have matched their standards and said they were working on updating uniforms to fix the problem.
McClanahan’s Background and Call for Change
Y’Mine McClanahan is a family nurse practitioner and a former vice president of the NAACP Baton Rouge branch. After the incident, the NAACP sent a letter to Stab’s questioning whether the restaurant’s policies were applied fairly to everyone.
McClanahan is asking for a jury trial and is seeking damages. Her attorneys say she filed the lawsuit to make sure that public places like restaurants treat everyone equally, without selective enforcement based on race.