A former Versace salesperson is filing a lawsuit against his former employer. The plaintiff alleges a culture of discrimination against him and African American customers. He charges the company with creating these conditions and encouraging them. This post will go over his claims and how they may relate to you.
Workplace discrimination suits are difficult to win because you must prove intent on the part of the defendants. Intent is the purpose that drove that person’s particular unlawful or wrongful actions. Since you cannot rely on the person to the tell truth or accurately relay their thoughts, people are forced to focus on emails, memorandums, witnesses and other types of evidence that suggests intent.
Here, the plaintiff alleges that his manager asked him if he was familiar with the D410 code (D410 is the code used by Versace to inventory black clothing). According to the complaint, the manager instructed him to say D410 whenever a black customer entered the store calmly.
Furthermore, the plaintiff claims that once he made the manager aware that he was one-quarter African American, he started treating the plaintiff differently. Specifically, the plaintiff alleges that he received inadequate training and that he was ultimately fired because of his ethnic heritage.
Versace vehemently denies the claims but refuses to provide any further insight into the case.
If you believe that you were the victim of workplace discrimination, you may want to consult with a lawyer that focuses his practice on employment matters. Discrimination suits are difficult to litigate, but they are winnable. You don’t need to fight these claims on your own. It is a sad state of affairs when you are forced to argue your rights in court but with an attorney on your side, you can rest easy.
Source: CNN, “Suit: Versace used secret ‘code’ for black customers,” Mayra Cuevas, December 27, 2016
