RSS
Home
Abercrombie & Fitch exiled disabled employee to stock room
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Twenty two year old Riam Dean from London is suing Abercrombie & Fitch because she was sent to work in the stock room instead of the sales floor because her prosthetic arm violated their “Look Policy” according to Disaboom. At first, Abercrombie & Fitch hired Riam to work on the sales floor and was advised in her training to wear a long sleeved sweater over their uniform of a white polo shirt and jeans. Then, a member of the store’s “visual team” insisted she remove the sweater despite the fact she was given permission to wear it. Her manager then told her that she had to work in the stock room during the spring and summer months but could return to the sales floor during colder seasons. They offered to put her in a low profile stocking and cleaning up position in the back of the store instead. So now, she is suing the chain for about forty thousand dollars. Abercrombie and Fitch has been sued before because of this “Look Policy” over discrimination allegations against Hispanic, Asian, and black employees. As a way to settle previous lawsuits in 2004, they paid over forty million dollars and agreed to have more diverse staff and models in advertising campaigns.
Jezebel has spoken with a former “visual manager” and they told them that:
There is a "style guide" that hiring managers get to see. It contains almost no text - just a few dozen pages, each with a full-sized color photograph of different ethnicities - a male and a female for each. They are supposed to serve as examples of the kind of people you should hire. Presumably so the managers will know what good-looking minorities look like. They're amongst the confidential files that are never meant to leave the office, but I'm surprised none have ever surfaced. (And all of the minorities, by the way, are as white looking as a person can be without actually being Caucasian).
This issue is very relevant to Atlanta special needs families. First of all, this is a store that prides itself on a “look policy”. In this policy, anyone who is different and does not fit into their cookie cutter mold is cast aside. If they are willing to send an amputee to the back of the store, would they even consider hiring a qualified person in a wheel chair, with Down syndrome, or any other disability? The answer is a clear "No". Out-casting an employee based on an impairment that is no fault of their own is wrong. Parents of children of all abilities need to think about the image a store is trying to project and how they treat their employees before spending money there. Abercrombie and Fitch tries to sell itself as this “all American” glamorous store with, wholesome, glamorous, predominately white, model like sales staff. They are excluding everyone else who does not fit that image. What type of message does that send to kids and teens? Before spending money there, consider if that is a company worth supporting in these tough economic times. Remember in these situations, money talks and it is possible to vote with one’s wallet.
Related Articles:
Comments
