Friday, June 4, 2010

Fired For Being Too Hot

Debrahlee Lorenzana is filing a lawsuit against Citibank because they fired her, she says, for the strangest reason: she's too hot.


She's 5'5'', 125 pounds and well, you've seen her photo.

"Where I'm from," she told the Village Voice, "women dress up-like put on makeup and do their nails-to go to the supermarket... I was raised very Latin. We're feminine. A woman in Puerto Rico takes care of herself."

Her bosses told her that "as a result of the shape of her figure, such clothes were purportedly 'too distracting' for her male colleagues and supervisors to bear," she says.

[Her two male] managers gave her a list of clothing items she would not be allowed to wear: turtlenecks, pencil skirts, and fitted suits. And three-inch heels.



From the Village Voice:

"As a result of her tall stature, coupled with her curvaceous figure," her suit says, Lorenzana was told "she should not wear classic high-heeled business shoes, as this purportedly drew attention to her body in a manner that was upsetting to her easily distracted male managers."

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Lorenzana told the Voice. "I said, You gotta be kidding me! I was like, Too distracting? For who? For you? My clients don't seem to have any problem."


Ni lebih kurang macam kat ofis aku la... Ada saja yang nak komplen aku pakai gitu gini tak kena. Kata MrHubby "Alaa..kalo otak tu asyik fikir yang kotor je, tengok orang pakai biasa pun dia dok terbayang sex je..."

As soon as Debrahlee started working at the Citibank branch in the Chrysler Building, she says, everyone there focused on her appearance.




She's working together a lawsuit to charge the bank for creating a sexually discriminatory environment with a lawyer, Jack Tuckner, who agrees that she's smoking hot, but thinks Debarah's case should stand up well with a jury.

"It's like saying that we can't think anymore 'cause our penises are standing up-and we cannot think about you except in a sexual manner-and we can't look at you without wanting to have sexual intercourse with you. And it's up to you, gorgeous woman, to lessen your appeal so that we can focus!"


The conservative shot.

But he also bizarrely told Debrah that she should come to his place (his office) for a photo shoot, because she should have pictures of herself in more conservative clothing to use at her court case ... and then (presumably) told her it was OK to take and let the Voice print the rest of the photos they have of her on their site.


Luckily, she has more evidence than just the conservative photos.

Her case also seems to cite:
  • A meeting during which her two managers told her that her pants were too tight.
  • An email to HR
  • A visit from HR to the Chrysler Building branch
  • Photos Debrahlee took of other female employees dressing equally or more provocatively than she
  • An email to two Citi VPs
  • And a lot of verbal evidence from a vivacious Puerto Rican woman.

She'll tell the jury that when she looked too hot, they told her to dress down. But when she responded by not wearing makeup, they told her she looked "sickly" and when she left her hair curly instead of straightening it, they told her she should go ahead and straighten it every day.

"I could have worn a paper bag, and it would not have mattered," she told the Voice. "If it wasn't my shirt, it was my pants. If it wasn't my pants, it was my shoes. They picked on me every single day."

Citi can just add this one to the list of sexual-related misconduct lawsuits they have piling up. First there was the blog Fabulis' claim against them, then Dorly Hazan-Amir's, which is pretty ridiculous on Citi's part if true, and that's just in the past four month. We have an email out to a Citi PR rep and will update when we hear back. here is their response:

"We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will defend against it vigorously. We respect the privacy of all of our employees and therefore cannot comment more specifically on this litigation, this former employee's overall performance, or the reasons for her termination- which an arbitration panel must resolve. Citi is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and providing a respectful environment in the workplace. We have a strong commitment to diversity and we do not condone, or tolerate, discrimination within our business for any reason."

Oh hello... aku pun nak pinjam ayat DebrahLee la..."I can't help it if I am not short, overweight and boring like the other women around me."
Hahaha


p/s: Ni kang ada la silent reader sentap tu yang kata aku perasan lawa aritu yang sakit mata ni. Hello, aku tak kata aku lawa. Kalo kau rasa 'orang tu' paling cun... nape Miss Copycat tu tak imitate dia jer? Pathetic la kau ni... Lain kali baca ayat aku betul2, jangan terus nak sentap je!


13 comments:

  1. betul2. kalau orang dressing lain macam sikit je kat office, mule la nak aim ker, nak mengadu kat HR ker..

    ade gak kwn aku yg kene macam ni. tp dah dia orang sales, kenela dressing yg aprropriate ngn keje dia. takkan nak selebet je..

    biasala orang jeles..

    ReplyDelete
  2. haihh memacam.

    sukati la kalau you nak perasan lawa sebab you memang lawa pun. bodoh betul manusia ni kutuk tak tentu pasal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hehehe..lawak pun ada story ni..i suka stare kat gorgeous woman, bukan envy tapi kagum! :>

    ReplyDelete
  4. ler..p keja takkan ar nk selebet kan..musti ar nk begaya..barula nmpk pro sikit..

    ReplyDelete
  5. azzamoro,
    diorg yg jeles tu sebab dah x sesuai nak bergaya sakan, xkena dgn umur & bentuk badan.kekeke

    toughcookie,
    *blush*
    mana ada, babe.i kan perasan je lebih :P

    hanz,
    err..u stare tak kat i? kekeke

    lin,
    ntahnye. xreti nak smart2 kot diorg nih.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i sama macam hanz, i suka tengok wanita lain yg pandai bergaya.. i idak pandai... seronok tengok orang pakai macam2 pesen dengan penuh confident..

    ReplyDelete
  7. yup...me lagi lah kan..kat UIA...mana boleh dressing lebih2 ...even pakai bj kebaya pun kalau agak fit (nama lagi kebaya) kena tegur dgn colleagues yg ustaz-uztazah lah...my colleague yg selalu dress up selalu kena...me pun kena jugak kdg2..aduss!

    ReplyDelete
  8. suka tengok pompuan2 cantek and kagum..very confident..slalunye "orang kita" suka ngata2 pasal bnda nih.takleh nak lawa sikit :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. tak kisah lah kan nak bergaya cemane pun..
    janji tutup aurat dengan sempurna dan bergaya cara Muslimah... :P

    ReplyDelete
  10. my suasana tempat keja x leh nak melawa mana. ramai yg 'oldies'. kalo pki selain baju kurung mesti org stare. x phm betul la

    ReplyDelete
  11. lady,
    kalo orang tu pakai kemas, apa salahnya yg nak lorat2 sgt kan?

    mamazharfan,
    i yg leper ni pun org nak kata 'mengancam' kalo pakai gini2. kalo i ada big boobs & bum apa diorg lg ckp gamaknye?

    isma,
    diorg tu dah confirm masuk syurga, tu yg judgmental tu.

    sya,
    agreed.

    ReplyDelete
  12. pakai uniform aje mcm i hari2..haha..mesti takde nak komplen.

    ReplyDelete
  13. paulo coelho ckp, haters are confused admirers who doesn't know why everyone loves you..mungkin acik tuh admire kot..tp dia confuse..hahahahahaha...biaq pi kt dia..

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading!
Feel free to leave comments here.

Nuffnang ads

My Heartbeat