Cancer survivor wins back job after refusing to wear ‘tankini’ at work

A bar has settled a lawsuit with a bartender who was fired because she would not wear a tight tank top that revealed scars from breast cancer surgery.

Margaret Finley, 56, won her job back and $75,000 in the settlement of a federal lawsuit against her employer, Red Eye’s Dock Bar in Grasonville.

The bar’s owner, Bob Wilson, did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Finley declined to comment. Debra Lawrence, an EEOC attorney, said Finley returned to working for the bar.

Norm Refford, a manager at Red Eye’s, said the bar’s insurance company decided to settle the lawsuit rather than fight it in court. He said other female employees still must wear the skimpy “tankinis.”

Finley worked at Red Eye’s for 11 years, tending bar on weekends from May to September until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. She underwent chemotherapy, radiation and a lumpectomy before returning to work in May 2006.

Shortly after her return, Wilson began instituting new dress codes. Lawrence said the bar first ordered Finley to not wear a hat, even though she still was losing hair from her cancer treatments.

—The Associated Press