Lincoln Co. woman says nail salon denied service due to her weight

LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. — A Lincoln County woman claims she was discriminated against while at a nail salon because of her weight.

Tiffany Nelson told Channel 9 she visited QC Nails and Spa in Denver at least once a month for more than a year. But she said all of a sudden, the owner told her the workers could no longer give her a pedicure.

"He looked at me and said, 'You are too big of a girl and you can't sit in our chairs anymore. You broke our chair,'" Nelson said.

Nelson told Channel 9 that none of the chairs broke while she was there.

(Click to watch woman, salon owner talk about the incident)

Channel 9 anchor Liz Foster asked the owner, Chuan Viet Dang, about the allegation and he agreed that she didn't break a chair. But he said a male customer did.

Dang said he's worried about other chairs breaking and being unsafe for customers.

"How are you going to decide who can get a pedicure and who can't?" Foster asked.

"We look at people. We guess,'" Dang said.

Dang said he plans to put a sign on the window in the next week or two, letting people know about the weight limit.

"What is the sign going to say?" Foster questioned.

"It say the weight limit. How many pounds, like that, and my wife, she decides," Dang said.

There are no federal or state laws making it illegal to discriminate against a person based on how much they weigh.

"If they just say no because she's got blond hair, or they say no because they don't like her or they just say no because they don't like her size, that's not discrimination, it's just being a jerk," said Julia Sain, with Disability Rights and Resources.

"My heart hurts for other people who have gone through this but aren't, or they're afraid to, speak up about it," Nelson said.

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(The video below is from a case in Tennessee from March)

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