A new Brooklyn bar and lounge called Club Freeze is hiring bartenders and servers, but the owner is only seeking applications white and those from a “Spanish background”, according to a recent Craigslist ad the owner, Kay Brown placed.
The ad stated that “Due to wanting a diverse staff to compliment a diverse neighborhood, only seeking at this moment Caucasian or Spanish background employees.”
Brown explained that she simply has too many black employees already. “We have a lot of black employees, but the neighborhood has a little bit of everyone – Spanish, Italian, white people – so I wanted to add different people onto the staff that could help bring other races of people into the business,” Brown says.
The ad was removed immediately following a call with Gothamist.
Regardless of Brown’s intentions or the demographic of her current staff, it is illegal under NYC Human Rights Law to express preference for one protected class over another when posting an ad.
Last year, the Bay Ridge club Longbow was fined $5,000 by the city’s Commission of Human Rights for posting a Craigslist ad bluntly stating that “Being British definitely works in your favor.”
