Bikini baristas suing over Wash. city dress code laws
SEATTLE — Seven bikini baristas and the owner of a chain of the coffee stands called “Hillbilly Hotties” sued the city of Everett, Wash., this week, saying two recently passed ordinances banning bare skin violate their right to free expression.
The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, said the ordinances passed by the Everett City Council deny bikini-stand employees the ability to communicate through their attire, are vague and confusing, and unlawfully target women.
“Just like Starbucks with green aprons, UPS with brown trucks and outfits, and Hooter’s with shortorange shorts, the baristas’ attire evokes a message at work,” the lawsuit said, adding that such messages include “freedom, empowerment, openness, acceptance, approachability, vulnerability and individuality.”
One of Everett’s new laws requires the workers to wear a minimum of tank tops and shorts. It specifically applies to employees at “quick service” restaurants, which also include fast food and food trucks.
The other redefined the city’s lewd conduct ordinance and created a new crime of facilitating lewd conduct. Both ordinances took effect this month.
The city cited “a proliferation of crimes of a sexual nature occurring at bikini barista stands throughout the city” in adopting the measures.
Everett and Snohomish County, where it’s located north of Seattle, have had a troubled history with the shops. A former Snohomish County sheriff’s sergeant pleaded guilty to helping launder money from a prostitution operation run out of some of roadside stands and was sentenced to one year in jail.
The proprietor of another chain, the Grab-N-Go espresso huts, was convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor after he employed a 16-year-old girl at his stands.
But Jovanna Edge, who runs five Hillbilly Hotties stands, including two in Everett, said the city’s new laws are unnecessary. A few years ago, she said, she gave Everett police permission to log in and view surveillance video of her stands so they can observe what’s happening in real time.
“I don’t want to hide anything from them,” Edge said. “Everybody needs to follow the rules, to not step out of the box and take their clothes off for people.”