Woman fights to be Mr. Claus

　　Donna Underwood wanted a job depicting Saint Nick f or the tots in her West Virginia town. Then she found o ut the mall's hiring policy had a Santa clause.

　　"The mall said they couldn't have a female Santa, " Underwood said Thursday. "They said mythically Santa wa s a man. "

　　Underwood, 50, of Mount Hope, has filed a sexual di scrimination lawsuit against SantaPlus of St. Peters, M o., which hired her to play Santa Claus at the Crossroa ds Mall in Beckley. She said the company fired her afte r one of the mall's managers complained about having a female Santa.

　　Underwood said she was the spitting image of a male elf, once she donned the Santa suit and put on the whit e beard and wig.

　　"I lowered my voice, " she said. "I'm already a fai rly heavyset person. "

　　Underwood's career in the workshop was brief. She o nly got her big break a year ago, about this time of ye ar, when a gender-correct Santa didn't show up for work . She was working at a T-shirt shop at the time, but fi lled in one day for the ailing elf.

　　She applied for a Santa job this year and was hired by SantaPlus.

　　"I like kids, " she said. "like to see their faces when they list what they want. "

　　But her stint again only lasted one day, Nov. 11, a nd then she was fired.

　　"I was upset, " she said. "It's the first time I've ever been fired from any job. It's kind of embarrassing . Everybody knew about it. "

　　Underwood said SantaPlus let her work as a lesser, helper elf at the mall's Santa display, but she quit af ter a few days because it wasn't the same.

　　Underwood's lawyer, Cynthia Evans of Charleston, fi led the lawsuit in Raleigh County Circuit Court against SantaPlus and company district manager Donna Hamby. The lawsuit accuses them of sex discrimination and seeks re instatement, back pay and unspecified damages.

　　Evans said SantaPlus knew Underwood was a woman whe n she was hired.

　　Nor Sewell, director of administration for SantaPlu s, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Cathy Shumate-Ho ush, marketing director of the Crossroads Mall, also de clined to comment.

　　Underwood said the male Santas now working at the m all don't have the right stuff to play the jolly old el f. They're too young for the role and they don't act li ke Santa.

　　"They don't have a good 'Ho, ho, ho, '"she said.