Lingerie company employee files Kafkaesque claim that she was fired for dressing too provocatively
By EJ DicksonMay 22nd, 2012, 11:45 pmComments (24)
Last month, Lauren Odes (above) was fired from her part-time job at Manhattan lingerie warehouse Native Intimates because, she says, her employers said her curvy figure and provocative attire were too "distracting" for the workplace. Now, Odes is filing a complaint against Native Intimates for religious and sexual discrimination, claiming that the Orthodox Jewish-owned company was so offended by her curves that her supervisor told her to tape her breasts down, Yentl-style, while on the job. Feel free to insert your own boob-related pun here (Her cans got her canned. Her rack got her the sack. I could go on from here, but I shan't because you guys could probably do better than me and anyway, I'm classy like that).
Although Odes was told repeatedly that her wardrobe was too provocative for the workplace, she says she was not aware of an official dress code for the job, and that her employers were more offended by her body shape than her attire. "When I first started working there, I asked what the dress code was, and I was just told to look around and see what everyone else was wearing," Odes said in a press conference Monday. "So I did. The dress was very casual athletic wear to business attire."
In addition to being told to tape her breasts down to make them seem smaller, Odes was also forced by her supervisor to wear a bright red bathrobe over her outfit, prompting the derision of her co-workers. "She told me to sit at my desk and wear it all day. I felt completely humiliated," Odes said. She claims she was out shopping for an ankle-length sweater to cover up with instead when she received the call from her supervisor saying that she'd been terminated.
Although many Orthodox Jews are offended by what they deem "immodest" female attire, Odes and Gloria Allred argue that employers' religious beliefs shouldn't dictate what their employees can and can't wear. "I understand that there are Orthodox Jewish men who may have their views about how a woman should dress ... but I do not feel that any employer has the right to impose their religious beliefs on me," Odes said. True that, yo. Also, is anyone else befuddled by the fact that Orthodox Jews are running a lingerie company called Native Intimates in the first place? If so, feel free to insert your own joke about yarmulke-shaped push-up bras/lace-covered, diamond-studded sheets with a hole in the middle here. (I'd do it for you, but y'know...gotta keep it classy.)
Commentarium (24 Comments)
Here's a joke, Disobeying your bosses constantly and then trying to sue when fired. I'm sure that if a male employee was wearing shorts that outlined his genitalia, he too would be asked to cover it up.
Since when are boobs considered genitalia? A closer analogy would be a man being fired for wearing a shirt that outlined his pecs. If that doesn't strike you as patently ridiculous, I can't imagine what does.
First, I wasn't calling boobs genitalia, read more closely. Second, my point is that it was NOT sexist, purely in what the store owner thought was good taste. I have big balls, and certain shorts are just inappropriate for me to wear. She may have big boobs, but that doesn't mean that she is given a licence to wear low cut shirts. The same shirt on her likely shows much more boob than it does on someone else. Not her fault, but something that is still immodest.
On what grounds do you analogise boobs and genitalia? Unless your balls are situated on your chest, you'll need to explain your comparison if you want to convince others that sexism plays no part. Also, looks like we have different definitions of 'low cut' (the outfit pictured is one of those that her boss deemed unacceptable).
Being asked to tape your breasts down and to wear a red robe in the workplace that probably made her look like an idiot seems like a bit too much to me. Hell, I'd sue too.
they absolutely should be free to determine on the grounds of their religious beliefs how they want their employees to appear and conduct themselves because, you know, IT'S THEIR STORE. customers, if they feel it's inappropriate, can vote with their dollars.
But they're happy to take those dollars... Seems a bit hypocritical to sell provocative clothing, but not let their employees wear it.
So if I work at a sex shop I shoulod be allowed to wear a fishnet bodysuit and a strap on to work?
Please excuse the typos, I couldn't see what I was typing
to be discrimination. I hope she gets a zillion dollars.
Hey, that woman's breasts are really large!
I think the problem is that for some women the standards of appropriate attire are more stringent than for others. If a smaller-busted woman wears a well-fitted shirt, it's fine, but if a larger busted woman wears a well-fitted shirt (i.e. not a "tight" shirt, but one that fits wells and doesn't make her look like a sack of potatoes) it's crude.
^This. The outfit she's wearing would be considered perfectly acceptable on a smaller-busted woman. The double standard is appalling.
fired for legitimate reasons. It wasn't until that media-whore Floria Allred got involved that it became about tits and Judaism. Every time Allred shows up on camera, feminism takes a punch in the mouth.
Somewhere in the afterlife Kafka is wondering WTF the Hooksexup headline writers think he has to do with this.
This isn't Kafkaesque....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEiOY4y15KI
I wonder...
All things being equal, if she were smaller-breasted, would she have been fired?
If she were not blonde, would she have been fired?
If her lips were thinner or she wore less makeup...
You get the idea. Change any one of those things, and she may still have a job. Allow her to be "Playboy-style" in looks, it becomes a problem.
TO BE CLEAR, that is BULLSHIT.
...for capitalizing "to be clear," etc. We wouldn't have gotten your point without that.
You may not realize this, but I do: Because I was making hypothetical points, people would definitely have jumped on me to accuse me of actually espousing those points.
So, you're welcome.
As a well-endowed woman, I know that I have to cover more up in order to appear professional (more skin = more skin, no way around that). Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how much skin is covered; unless I go out of my way to look frumpy, my chest will still get attention.
The problem is when others' attention or others' discomfort gets ascribed to the woman doing something wrong, even and especially if she's trying to not be provocative. That's part of our heritage as a historically male-dominated, puritanical society.
It's high time we reexamined our expectations of women - in the workplace and elsewhere - and stopped blaming them categorically for the attention they receive.
Yes! Very well said. There is a lot of assumption that she wasn't dressed appropriately but I'm not getting that from what I've read about this. It sounds like she just has very Jessica Rabbit proportions and regardless of what she wears this is going to be noticeable. And it's making these Orthodox Jewish men uncomfortable.
There's really no way to know unless we see photos of her actual outfits but if what's she wearing above is any indication it does seem like wrongful termination.
Liar! If you want us to believe you're too well endowed, you'll have to provide pictures.
Best lingerie store I ever shopped at had hot clerks - if you found an outfit you liked they would put it on and model it for you. Sales were brisk!
Now you say something