{"id":110,"date":"2015-06-05T19:41:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T23:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/?p=110"},"modified":"2023-04-12T11:31:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T15:31:26","slug":"major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ian Miller, \u00a0who was an attorney for Zara, USA, filed a lawsuit alleging that he was harassed and terminated for being Jewish, American, and gay.\u00a0 Mr. Miller claimed that he was excluded from meetings, given smaller raises than his co-workers, and was subjected to racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic remarks and actions. According to the complaint, Mr. Miller\u2019s partner was even e-mailed a photo of an enormous tattooed penis.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Mr. Miller alleges that Zara and the other named defendants created a hostile work environment, engaged in pay discrimination and retaliation, and unlawfully terminated him.\u00a0 He is seeking $40 million in damages.<\/p>\n

Zara USA\u2019s parent company, Industria de Diseno Textil, S.A., or Inditex, said in response to the suit<\/a>, “We do not tolerate any behavior that is discriminatory or disrespectful, but value each individual\u2019s contributions to our dynamic organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case is Miller v. Zara USA Inc, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 155512\/2015.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this is not Zara\u2019s first rodeo with allegations of offensive conduct.\u00a0 In 2014, Zara introduced a line of children\u2019s pajamas that caused an uproar because they were blue-and-white striped and featured a yellow star, closely resembling Nazi concentration camp uniforms.\u00a0 To make matters worse, when the company pulled the product, the public relations release stated that the shirt would be \u201cexterminated.\u201d<\/a> In 2007, the company pulled a handbag<\/a> from its stores after a customer pointed out that the design on the bag included swastikas.\u00a0 Staff had not noticed the swastikas on the bag.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, discrimination laws require employers to treat similarly situated employees the same way.\u00a0 While Mr. Miller\u2019s case was brought in Manhattan under New York law, the same types of claims could be made in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Under Massachusetts General Laws, ch. 151B, an employer is prohibited from discriminating against an employee on the basis of certain protected categories.\u00a0 These categories include sexual orientation and religious affiliation.\u00a0 Depending on the circumstances, federal laws may also apply.<\/p>\n

Discrimination claims often arise in the context of a \u201cdisparate treatment\u201d scenario or a \u201cdisparate impact\u201d scenario. \u00a0Disparate treatment claims\u00a0arise where an employer treats an employee differently on the basis illegal considerations (i.e. choosing not to hire a female accountant because the employer believes they are not as good with numbers as men).\u00a0 Based on the allegations above, Mr. Miller\u2019s claims are a form of disparate treatment on the basis of his religious affiliation and sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

A disparate impact claim\u00a0may arise where an employment practice appears neutral and benign on its face, but when applied, the practice creates built-in barriers for protected groups that are not related to their job requirements.\u00a0 For example, a strength requirement might screen out disproportionate numbers of female applicants for a job.\u00a0 These types of scenarios are more subtle and much more difficult to detect than disparate treatment scenarios.<\/p>\n

Critical questions to ask before an action is taken or a decision is made are: \u00a01) whether the citation or decision is\u00a0job-related and 2) is\u00a0it consistent with prior decisions made under similar circumstances.<\/p>\n

The potential impact of a discrimination suit is nothing to scoff at: if an employer is found liable, it could be subjected to treble damages and attorney\u2019s fees under the statute.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ian Miller,  who was an attorney for Zara, USA, filed a lawsuit alleging that he was harassed and terminated for being Jewish, American, and gay.  Mr. Miller claimed that he was excluded from meetings, given smaller raises than his co-workers, and was subjected to racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic remarks and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMajor Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination - The Case for Inclusion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination - The Case for Inclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ian Miller,  who was an attorney for Zara, USA, filed a lawsuit alleging that he was harassed and terminated for being Jewish, American, and gay.  Mr. Miller claimed that he was excluded from meetings, given smaller raises than his co-workers, and was subjected to racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic remarks and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Case for Inclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-05T23:41:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-12T15:31:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bowditch & Dewey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bowditch & Dewey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bowditch & Dewey\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a11c00a67bcf014e834b9b4a76acff06\"},\"headline\":\"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-05T23:41:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-12T15:31:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":553,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/\",\"name\":\"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination - The Case for Inclusion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-05T23:41:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-12T15:31:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a11c00a67bcf014e834b9b4a76acff06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/2015\\\/06\\\/05\\\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Case for Inclusion\",\"description\":\"News and Legal Analysis on Issues Related to Diversity and Inclusion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a11c00a67bcf014e834b9b4a76acff06\",\"name\":\"Bowditch & Dewey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/da0bff0dcdd6a27074984316a4397d6ca5f912a028abf15416d60d004cfb6586?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/da0bff0dcdd6a27074984316a4397d6ca5f912a028abf15416d60d004cfb6586?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/da0bff0dcdd6a27074984316a4397d6ca5f912a028abf15416d60d004cfb6586?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bowditch & Dewey\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/diversityinclusionma\\\/author\\\/bowditchdewey\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination - The Case for Inclusion","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination - The Case for Inclusion","og_description":"Ian Miller,  who was an attorney for Zara, USA, filed a lawsuit alleging that he was harassed and terminated for being Jewish, American, and gay.  Mr. Miller claimed that he was excluded from meetings, given smaller raises than his co-workers, and was subjected to racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic remarks and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/","og_site_name":"The Case for Inclusion","article_published_time":"2015-06-05T23:41:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-12T15:31:26+00:00","author":"Bowditch & Dewey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bowditch & Dewey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/"},"author":{"name":"Bowditch & Dewey","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/#\/schema\/person\/a11c00a67bcf014e834b9b4a76acff06"},"headline":"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination","datePublished":"2015-06-05T23:41:21+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-12T15:31:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/"},"wordCount":553,"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/","name":"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination - The Case for Inclusion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-05T23:41:21+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-12T15:31:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/#\/schema\/person\/a11c00a67bcf014e834b9b4a76acff06"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/2015\/06\/05\/major-fashion-chain-sued-by-attorney-for-employment-discrimination\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Major Fashion Chain Sued by Attorney for Employment Discrimination"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/","name":"The Case for Inclusion","description":"News and Legal Analysis on Issues Related to Diversity and Inclusion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/#\/schema\/person\/a11c00a67bcf014e834b9b4a76acff06","name":"Bowditch & Dewey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/da0bff0dcdd6a27074984316a4397d6ca5f912a028abf15416d60d004cfb6586?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/da0bff0dcdd6a27074984316a4397d6ca5f912a028abf15416d60d004cfb6586?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/da0bff0dcdd6a27074984316a4397d6ca5f912a028abf15416d60d004cfb6586?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bowditch & Dewey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/author\/bowditchdewey\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd7Mpl-1M","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/diversityinclusionma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}