Judge Says Lewd Talk May Have Place at Work

A KFC worker who quit over her managers’ explicit remarks--such as the suggestion that their fast-food restaurant in Superior, Wis., be turned into a strip bar and that female employees get a Col. Sanders tattoo on their breasts--was denied unemployment benefits by a judge who said the “locker room talk” may have been an attempt to boost morale. “To the extent that it was intended to promote this end, it would have been an effort to achieve a legitimate business goal,” wrote Charles Schaefer, an administrative law judge who hears unemployment cases. He also wrote that June Lauer, 38, who quit her $9.10-an-hour job in June, had never complained and that there was evidence she was amused by the talk. Her lawyer, Chris Gramstrup, denied that and said his client was stunned by the ruling. Lauer was not available for comment. The ruling has been appealed. A spokesman at KFC headquarters in Louisville, Ky., would not comment.