Carney Shegerian Comments on Citibank
Employee Fired For “Being Too Hot”
June 15, 2010 07:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time
LOS ANGELES--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Carney R. Shegerian, founder of Shegerian & Associates, a
Santa Monica-based litigation law firm specializing in employee rights, comments on recent news of Citibank’s
former employee allegedly fired because she was too hot and sexy for her job.
Debrahlee Lorenzana, 33 formerly employed by Citibank filed a lawsuit claiming her termination was due to her
distracting good looks and curvy figure.
If you are not familiar with the case already, Deborahlee Lorenzana’s lawsuit against Citibank alleges sexual
harassment claims and reveals how “she was ordered to tone down her wardrobe, including form fitting clothes like
turtlenecks, pencil skirts and fitted suits. She was told her clothing was ‘too distracting’ for her male colleagues and
supervisors to handle.”
Lorenzana claims that she dressed on par with other Citibank employees, including the level of “sexiness.” In a CBS
article she states, “What they said to me is (other women’s) body types and my body type were different and
because of my body type I drew too much attention.”
Shegerian notes, “Essentially what Citibank has done is retaliate against and subsequently wrongfully terminate Ms.
Lorenzana. For Citibank to take these actions when she has clearly adhered to a professional dress code is
considered harassment, both of a sexual and gender-based nature.”
Lorenzana, now a personal banker at a Chase branch in Brooklyn, told the Post that her boss at Chase had
threatened her with disciplinary action if she continued talking to the media about her lawsuit. Shegerian states, “If
she gets terminated from JPMorgan Chase it would be grounds for another lawsuit if this occurred in California. In
California, it is illegal to threaten an employee for speaking up against unlawful employment practices. The law here
likewise prohibits retaliation for asserting your rights in this