A former Sales Associate at the Giorgio Armani Store on Madison Avenue in New York has sued Giorgio Armani and the store’s General Manager, Barbara Camozzi for race discrimination. In a lawsuit filed in New York federal court, Norma Moreno claims she was terminated because she is Hispanic and previously complained about the store’s general practice of screening customers who were Hispanic or African-American.
Moreno alleges that she and her co-workers previously complained to Camozzi, the Store’s General Manager, that African-American or Hispanic customers were not given assistance because of their race. In addition, Moreno alleged that Camozzi would frequently guard the cash register when said customers were present, thereby insinuating that African-American and Hispanic individuals were more apt to commit theft. After numerous complaints by Moreno and two other co-workers (both of whom were African Americans), Camozzi and another Sales Manager (both Caucasian individuals) failed to investigate any unlawful conduct. Moreno and her co-workers had a second meeting with the Sales Manager to discuss customer treatment, and still no corrective action was taken.
These multiple complaints regarding discriminatory treatment of customers led to Camozzi unjustifiably berating Moreno on the sales floor, in connection with a consignment. Moreno alleges that these false accusations were done in retaliation, claiming she always complied with company policies. Following the incident, Moreno was issued an unjustified written performance notice for allegedly “failing to follow the consignment policy.” Moreno was terminated for “poor performance” prior to a meeting scheduled to discuss these incidents with senior management. Moreno alleges that all of these acts by Armani and Camozzi violated the civil rights laws, including the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law.
