She was too sexy for her shirts, so sexy it hurt – her career, court papers say.
A curvy Queens woman says she was forced out of her job at Citibank because her male co-workers found her figure “too distracting.”
Debrahlee Lorenzana said she was dressing professionally, but her male bosses and co-workers still found her too hot be around their cold cash.
Lorenzana went to work for Citibank as a business banking officer at their Chrysler Building branch in September of 2008.
“Shortly after the commencement of her employment, branch manager Craig Fisher and assistant branch manager Peter Claibourne began articulating inappropriate and sexist comments concerning plaintiff’s clothing and appearance,” her court filings say.
“The improper comments made to plaintiff by Fisher and Claibourne included, but were not limited to, advising her that she must refrain from wearing certain items of clothing, in particular, turtleneck tops, pencil skirts, fitted business suits, or other properly tailored clothing.
“In blatantly discriminatory fashion, plaintiff was advised that as a result of the shape of her figure, such clothes were purportedly ‘too distracting’ for her male colleagues and supervisors to bear.”
Lorenzana “complained to management, pointing out that other female colleagues wore similar professional attire,” and that some dressed far more provocatively, her court filing says.
“In a regressive response more sutiable for reality television than a white-shoe corporation in the 21st century, plaintiff was advised that these other comparator females may wear what they like, as their general unattractiveness rendered moot their sartorial choices, unlike plaintiff, whose shapeliness could not be heightened by beautifully tailored clothing.”
She was also told that “as a result of her tall stature, coupled with her curvaceous figure, 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.”
The fed up femme fatale made a formal complaint to HR in May of last year, and asked for a transfer to another branch, her court filing says. The transfer didn’t go through, and she was stripped of some of her duties, and then not given proper training for her new ones, the suit said.
She was finally transferred in July, the suit says. Matters didn’t improve at the next branch, where she was chided for failing to recruit new customers despite being given an out of the way post on the second floor, her filings say. She was fired that August.
“The purported reasons for plaintiff’s termination included that she failed to meet the required new account opening quotas, in addition to the credulity-straining assertion that her clothing choices were ‘inappropriate,'” the suit said.
Lorenzana’s gender discrimination suit was dismissed last month because her deal with Citibank called for any disputes to be settled in private arbitration. She’s pressing on with her case there.
“Are you saying that just because I look this way genetically, that this should be a curse for me?” she told the Village Voice, which first reported her case.
In a statement, Citibank said, “We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will defend against it vigorously.”
They declined further comment because “we respect the privacy of all of our employees,” but added that the bank has “a strong commitment to diversity and we do not condone, or tolerate, discrimination within our business for any reason.”