A U.K. law student won her lawsuit against Abercrombie and Fitch. The clothing behemoth had relegated her to the stockroom because her uni-armed look didn’t fit in with the company’s dress code. The BBC reports:
Riam Dean, 22, who has a prosthetic arm, claimed she was “diminished” for not fitting the “look policy” at the Savile Row store in central London.
A central London tribunal awarded Miss Dean £8,000 for unlawful harassment and ruled that Abercrombie and Fitch failed to comply with employment law.
I can’t fit into anything at Abercrombie and Fitch, but it seems to me that their employment scheme involves gentlemen and women out front whose sole purpose is to fool people into thinking clothes can replace a lifetime of exercise and proper dieting. I don’t see why this function can’t be performed by pretty people with prosthetic parts.
But the trolls in the stockroom have to lift things, right? Unless Riam Dean is some kind of bionic woman, isn’t she much more suited to the store front instead of the stockroom?
More details on Ms. Dean after the jump.
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One of the beautiful aspects of legal training is that it gives you a full appreciation for your rights:
Miss Dean, who has just finished exams at Queen Mary University in east London, had claimed she was made to work in the stockroom for not fitting the brand’s “all-American” image.
The tribunal heard she resigned from the store following the spat and was left “distraught”….
Miss Dean was awarded £136 basic compensation and £1,077 for loss of earnings.
The panel, which accepted she felt “humiliated” and experienced a “loss of confidence” following the dispute, also awarded her £6,800 for hurt feelings.
Makes you wonder how many “all-American” women have felt humiliated and experienced a loss of confidence simply by walking past an Abercrombie store.
In any event, Ms. Dean’s victory should give a shot in the arm added employment confidence to single armed citizens on both sides of the ocean. One-armed people can do a lot more than kill Harrison Ford’s wife.
Woman wins clothes store tribunal [BBC]