Ex-banker fired for being ‘too hot’ may sue new boss

MELBOURNE - Former Citigroup banker, Debrahlee Lorenzana, who was fired because she was ‘too hot’, refused to be tight-lipped about the discrimination against her at the company and threatened to sue her new boss if they forced her to be quiet about it.

Lorenzana says she won’t tolerate indiscrimination, even if it means suing the ones who employed her after she was thrown out of Citigroup.

“I’m going to speak up,” The Couriermail quoted her as saying on The Early Show on US morning TV.

“Enough is enough!”

Her lawyer, Jack Turner said that they would sue JP Morgan Chase - her new employer, if they fired her. Trouble began brewing at her new job as a personal banker at a Chase branch in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York when stories about her suit against Citibank appeared in the newspapers.

A “hush order” followed, from CEO Jamie Dimon.

“I said, ‘I’m going to speak to the media-this has nothing to do with you.’”

“I was under so much stress, (my boss) said it wasn’t up to her and that the only thing I can tell you is pray,” she said, in response to whether she would be fired.

Her leave was also cancelled on Monday - the day she was to do an interview with CBS. She went ahead and appeared on CBS anyway.

In her lawsuit against Citibank, Ms Lorenzana pointed out to her bosses “that other female colleagues wore similar professional attire,” and that some dressed far more provocatively.

But her supervisors shot back that those women didn’t have to worry about turning them on “as their general unattractiveness rendered moot their sartorial choices, unlike plaintiff,” according to court papers.

Her suit last month was dismissed on the grounds of an arbitration clause with Citigroup.

“‘Oh, your pants are too tight. You cannot wear turtlenecks. … because you draw too much attention,’” Lorenzana said her bosses at Citi repeatedly told her.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” she added. (ANI)