Woman Claims She Was Fired By Citibank For Being Too Sexy
A shapely New York woman has sued Citibank for unfair dismissal, claiming she was forced out for being "too distracting".
Debrahlee Lorenzana, 33, claims that she dressed appropriately at work but her male bosses and co-workers found her body to be excessively curvaceous for a bank job.
She claims facing sexist behavior from male colleagues, including branch manager Craig Fisher and assistant branch manager Peter Claibourne, as soon as she started working in the Chrysler Building branch in September of 2008.
Her court filings said, "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.
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."
After Lorenzana pointed out to her bosses that other female workers at the office dressed in a similar manner, she was told that their attire choices didn't matter as they were "generally unattractive" unlike her.
After making a formal complaint to HR and asking for a transfer in May last year, things didn't improve for Lorenzana and the discrimination continued. After finally being transfered to another branch in July, she was given an out of the way office space ill suited to her duties. She was later accused of failing to attract customers and fired.
"Are you saying that just because I look this way genetically, that this should be a curse for me?" she told reporters.
Citibank has stated that, "We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will defend against it vigorously."
