Citibank fired me over my good looks: Ex-employee

New York, Jun 5: 33-year-old ex-employee of Citibank, Debrahlee Lorenzana, has alleged that she was fired for distracting her male colleagues with her 'shapeliness'.

Even though Lorenzana filed a lawsuit against Citigroup Inc accusing the bank of firing her for being too good-looking in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan way back in Nov 2009, the case has generated renewed interest after Village Voice published an article about her.

The 5-foot-6 woman was reportedly warned by the bank against dressing like her female co-workers because her 'shapeliness' upset her 'easily distracted' male colleagues and supervisors soon after she started working at a Citibank branch in Manhattan's Chrysler building in Sep 2008.

According to her complaint, she was restricted from wearing turtlenecks, pencil skirts and fitted suits because her figure made it 'too distracting'. In her complaint, she also added that the management had not imposed any restrictions on her female colleagues as they 'general unattractiveness' did not require any such steps.

The woman told Voice that her efforts to dress down did not impress the management.

"I could have worn a paper bag, and it would not have mattered," she is quoted as saying.

In Aug 2009, the bank fired the single mother citing 'inappropriate' attire and a failure to meet new account quotas.

OneIndia News