Shamael Lataillade, a former sales supervisor, is suing the Italian luxury retailer Moschino for discrimination. Shamael Lataillade claims her employers at a Moschino store in West Hollywood used a racist codename to describe black shoppers who didn’t look rich enough. “She says the woman would call them a ‘Serena’ and instructed other employees to follow and watch them closely.
via TMZ:
Shamael Lataillade is suing the Italian luxury clothing company, claiming her female supervisor at the WeHo shop had a specific protocol for black clients if they didn’t have diamonds or carry name brands. In docs obtained by TMZ, she says the woman would call them a “Serena” and instructed other employees to follow and watch them closely — sometimes even writing down their license plates.
It’s not spelled out in the suit, but the alleged code would seem to be a reference to Serena Williams.
What’s more … Shamael claims the supervisor told employees to tell “Serenas” they were out of stock on many items — and even called cops once to report a suspicious black customer. She says the guy turned out to be a high-profile rapper, but she doesn’t name him.
On a personal level, Shamael — a black, Haitian-American woman — claims the supervisor discriminated against her and mocked her as someone who practices voodoo. She was canned for complaining to corporate about the “Serena” code word and other things … according to the suit.
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