Feds defend probe of Mass. coffee shop chain

BOSTON (AP) -- An official with a federal agency investigating a Massachusetts-based coffee shop chain for possible discrimination because its servers are overwhelmingly young, attractive women is defending the probe.

Robert Sanders, director of the Boston office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, tells the Boston Herald that some applicants or employees at Marylou's may not know that they are victims of age or sex discrimination.

Hingham-based Marylou's has 29 stores south of Boston and in Rhode Island. The workers are often featured in television commercials singing and dancing in pink T-shirts and black shorts.

The company's executives deny hiring discrimination and founder Marylou Sandry calls the probe a "witch hunt."

The investigation has enraged some who say the federal government is overstepping its bounds and simply harassing a successful business.