Waitresses at Hooters file suit for having to buy skimpy, sexy outfits with own money

It costs Hooters girls less than $20 to get sexy - but it may end up costing the tacky restaurant chain a lot more.

Two waitresses filed a class-action suit on Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court charging that Hooters failed to reimburse them for buying and cleaning the barely there uniforms with the company logo.

Gina Rosati of Copiague, L.I., and Amy Fredericks of Bayside, Queens, said they were forced to fork over $5.45 for orange hot pants, $6 for the tight-fitting Lycra tank top, $3.25 for a pouch, $2.50 for suntan pantyhose and $2.25 for thick white socks.

Under state labor law, an employer must provide its workers with a workplace uniform if they're not regular street duds.

The women's lawyer, Louis Pechman, said the Hooters' practice is patently illegal.

"I don't think that could confuse the Hooters uniform clothes as part of someone's ordinary wardrobe," Pechman said.

Pechman said the cost may be minimal - but the law is the law.

Rosati, who works at the Hooters in East Meadow, L.I., and Fredericks at the restaurant Fresh Meadows, Queens, declined requests for interviews.

The company's Web site adds that the Hooters Girl uniform also consists of "a smile," but there's apparently no charge for that.

A call for comment to Strix LLC which owns and operates the Hooters restaurants on Long Island was not returned.