Abercrombie gets sued Options

[BlackCelicaGT94]

Ambercrombie & Fitch employees sue company

09:20 AM PST on Friday, February 11, 2005


By CHRIS INGALLS / KING 5 News





KING


SEATTLE - Employees of clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch are suing the company, claiming a strict dress code is draining their bank accounts.


This lawsuit targets a policy that some say is not too uncommon in the retail clothing business: You sell the clothes, you wear the clothes, and you’re forced to buy the clothes.


A former store manager of the Bellingham store said the company was ruthless when it came to employees who didn’t dress the part.


"We were not supposed to schedule people who didn't wear ‘the look,’ said Lindsey King, former Abercrombie and Fitch manager. “So if you didn't own the looks or wear it to work, you wouldn't get scheduled much."


"The look" is Abercrombie and Fitch's term for people wearing - what else - its line of clothes. And employees like King claim a company policy forced them to put part of their paycheck's right back in Abercrombie's cash register.


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“We had to wear a certain look every season and we were required to purchase the look for that seaon which changed every three months," said King.


A King County judge on Thursday set an October trial date in a lawsuit brought by employees, who say forcing them to buy Abercrombie clothes violates Washington law.


The suit is now class action, meaning all Abercrombie employees within the the past few years may be able to join.


“We're guesstimating that class is probably in excess of 4,500 people," said Stephen Conner, plaintiff’s lawyer.


Abercrombie's "look" has already had costly legal consequences. The company settled an employee race discrimination case in california for $40 million. It pulled catalogs with nude models, and it's already settled suits similar to the one in King County in other states. A similar case in California, Ambercrombie settled with employees for more than $2 million.


“I'd like to see it stop happening," said King.


Abercrombie’s attorney wouldn’t comment after Thursday’s court hearing, but the company has said before that it doesn’t have such a police and that employees are not forced to buy clothes and do get a up to a half off discount on clothes.






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Oh please - people know before working there you gotta rock the abercrombie look! what a lame lawsuit. Any clothes retailer you work for wants you to wear their clothes or atleast have that look.

[dstrbcelica]

i think it's b.s. my best friend used to work for AF. 3 AF articles of clothing must be visible at all times while working. so basically, $200 worth of clothing x amount of days outta the week.

-dstrb