PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE DONALD Trump suggested to management at his golf club in California that they should fire less attractive female employees, the Los Angeles Times reported today, citing court records.
The paper said staff at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes were so concerned about the mogul’s repeated calls for attractive hostesses that they made sure “young, thin, pretty women” were scheduled to work on the days he visited.
Hayley Strozier, who worked at the club until 2008, made the following statement in court documents related to a lawsuit filed by employees – who also said they were denied breaks at the facility.
I had witnessed Donald Trump tell managers many times while he was visiting the club that restaurant hostesses were not ‘pretty enough’ and that they should be fired and replaced with more attractive women.
“Initially, I heard Mr Trump say this almost every time he visited the club (which was perhaps four or five times a year).”
She said his comments became less frequent as management changed the schedule so that the “most attractive women” were working to coincide with Trump’s visit to his golf course.
Several employees said Trump, who has struggled to attract female voters during his campaign for the White House, also made inappropriate and patronising comments to women at the club and a number of them quit or were fired because of their looks, according to the court documents.
On one visit, he saw a “young, attractive hostess” and asked that she be brought to an area where he was meeting with a group of men, former Trump restaurant manager Charles West is quoted as saying.
Another staffer said he had inquired about her marital status during one visit and then would regularly ask her if she was still “happily married”.
An attorney for Trump denied that the club engaged in any discrimination against employees.
The revelations in the Times come as the flamboyant Trump, who has called women “pigs”, “slobs”, and “dogs,” has been forced to respond to claims he fat-shamed a Miss Universe – Alicia Machado – calling her “Miss Piggy.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has since teamed up with Machado to try and emphasise his less-than-sensitive treatment of women.
- © AFP, 2016 With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha
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