Hawaiin Tropic Zone Sued ?

Former Hooters girl Melody Morales sues Hawaiian Tropic Zone for discrimination BY J. MARTINEZ DAILY NEW Hawaiian Tropics paid me to keep mum on rape - suit A former Hooters girl who says she's got the right assets - but the wrong accent - is suing the Hawaiian Tropic Zone for crushing her dream of working as one of its bikini-clad beauties. Melody Morales said she was rejected for a job by a manager at the Times Square restaurant who griped, "You don't speak white" and "you are ghetto." The 21-year-old Latina lovely is the latest woman to sue over working conditions at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, where employees in skimpy beachwear parade nightly before diners. "Not to brag, but I look good in a bikini," Morales said Tuesday. "I could have done a perfect job there." The suit says Morales went with her mother to the restaurant last March in search of a job. It claims a manager told her to get lost, saying, "I am not going to ruin my business with your Latin accent." Morales, who said her dream job is to pour drinks while strutting her stuff in a bikini, returned to the Hawaiian Tropic Zone months later still in pursuit of a position. Her suits says another manager instantly rejected her, telling her, "We will not hire you because you have a speech problem," and "You have a Latin accent." "It is 100% illegal to discriminate because of where you're from or because you have an accent," said her lawyer, Derek Smith. "Melody certainly has the assets for this job." Morales, who sports an ample 34-D cup size, said she was appalled. "They never even looked at me in a bikini," she whimpered. A lawyer for the Riese Organization, which operates the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, said the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, is "without merit." "We are proud of the many Latino and Latina employees in our diverse workforce," said James Rosenzweig. The restaurant that bills itself as "The Hottest Place on Earth" is facing a $600 million federal suit from four former female workers accusing an ex-boss of sickening sexual antics. "I believe everything they're saying," Morales said. Morales, who is of mixed Dominican and Puerto Rican background, works at a bikini bar in Westchester County. "It was kind of like my dream to work at the [Hawaiian Tropic Zone]," she said. "It's the bikini, I guess." The restaurant is spread across three floors and 16,000 square feet. It features a two-story waterfall, a setting that "tantalizes the senses" and menu items such as hung barbecue ribs and crispy chicken lollipops. On its Web site, the restaurant features pictures of several of its sexy staff, which include a go-go dancer from Russia, a hostess from Nigeria and a bartender from Puerto Rico. But Morales said the place has no room for someone with her accent. "I guess they want their girls to speak white," she said