Times: A law student who was prevented from working on the shop floor of a clothing chain because her false arm was contrary to its “look policy” has been awarded more than £9,000 by an employment tribunal.
Abercrombie & Fitch, a US chain that opened its first branch in London in 2007, told Riam Dean, 22, that her prosthetic arm was deemed unsavoury by its “visual team”
Abercrombie & Fitch have pissed me off and many others too!
I wish Riam Dean well…. not easy to take on a big company…takes courage… rather good qualities for a young lawyer I would have thought?
UPDATE 14TH AUGUST
Have a look at UsefullyEmployed blog post on this subject – he makes a number of good points
Congrats to Ri, who I am sure it out celebrating this very moment
It cheered me up to read about this today, was utterly abhorrent behaviour on their part. Definitely took guts to sue them – well done, Riam!
And well done to Mrs Dean, who deserves every credit for supporting her daughter.
Barboy – absolutely.
Abercrombie & Fitch behaved badly – rather shallow and shabby…
The Times reports.. “Abercrombie’s strict “look” policy on how staff present themselves was set out in a 45-page company handbook listing everything from acceptable hairstyles to fingernail length.
Giving evidence, Miss Dean said: “I never let my disability get in the way of living a fulfilled life. I do not want special treatment.”
Charon,
Hats off to Riam.
This was a deeply unattractive piece of business by Abercrombie and Snitch and I’m glad they lost too.
Just one question – I saw reported in one of the dailies that ‘no-one from Abercrombie and Fitch was available for comment’ – now they must be a large commercial enterprise. Were they all asleep? On holiday? Sloped off early?
Or was it that – seeing their position as indefensible – they decided not to try to defend it and put up the shutters?
Of course it would be unthinkable just to admit they got this one very wrong indeed and apologise.
Even at this stage.
That’s right, no comment from them. They’ve really nothing to say. The only quoted remarks from the proceedings seem to be suggestions that she wasn’t all that bothered by it all really. Astonishing.
Great game:- go to their website and try to find someone who isn’t white. I’ve been playing this: http://blog.usefullyemployed.co.uk/2009/08/14/riam-dean-wins-disability-claim-against-abercrombie-fitch/
They have released a comment:
http://blog.taragana.com/pr/afs-comment-on-the-resolution-of-riam-deans-claim-4893/
Far be it from me to criticise anyone for taking legal advice on damage limitation and how to present a story …. but…… however good their general counsel is… it is not a great idea to get a LAWYER to put out a PR message ….. they really would have been better just saying sorry…. and then they wouldn’t have blogs/ readers of blogs, mainstream media et al being even more critical…
A simple statement in public from the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch or even tha manager of the store saying something vaguely human…like… ‘this was not good… sorry’ .. would have been far better…. and would have been respected…..
There may, however, be legal or floodgates/dick swinging … issues which precluded such a response… who knows… I don’t care what Abercrombie & Fitch do…I am far too ugly to wear their clothes… and I am happy to say so
To Barboy and all who have taken the time to make a comment. Thank you very much for your support, we are all delighted at the verdict, however I promise you Riam felt she won simply by making them appear in court, but the verdict was icing on the cake. We are so proud of our girl for standing up for her dignity, and in spite of what some people think, it was never about money, our lawyer said she wouldnt think she would get more than 3 thousand yet I paid a huge legal bill and every penny of it was worth it. A&F might be big with all their wealth but our Riam is very inteligent and big on principles.
May: your tenacity on behalf of Riam does you proud, as indeed we’ve all felt lifted by her stoicism in fighting a large company against a frightening regime of discrimination.
All of us here genuinely wish her the best possible success in the future.
May
I am delighted…… and thank you for coming on to let us know! Best to Riam… for her future.
Mike Semple Piggot/ Charon QC