Courtney Flint, former Gucci America’s Senior Media Director, who worked with the luxury fashion house for 17 years, has filed a discrimination charge against the company.
Flint claims that she received “derogatory remarks” about her pregnancy and was demoted after she returned from maternity leave, after the birth of her third child. She alleges that her boss, Selena Kalvaria, all but demoted her by taking away most of her responsibilities and advertising for a similar position.
Kalvaria, Flint says, “did not deny her discriminatory intentions”, telling her that “things are hard very hard” for “working moms”.
It is also claimed that HR dismissed Flint’s concerns. She was told that she could quit if she did not like the way she was being treated.
Flint had asked her boss for reasonable accommodations regarding her third child, including being allowed to work from home until childcare could be arranged. At that time, most of her fellow employees were working from home anyway due to lockdown.
But Flint was warned not to ask for such accommodations or risk a “larger discussion” about her job.
Valdi Licul, a partner at the law firm Wigdor LLP, said: “More and more during the pandemic, we are seeing working mothers being singled out by their employers for requesting remote work or flexible schedules, even when their co-workers are allowed similar arrangements.”
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “An anti-mother, anti-child ethic is increasingly common in the West, at all levels of employment, implying and even stating directly that there is no place for mothers in the workplace.
“Such a deeply sexist ethic goes hand in hand with the narrative that abortion is the only answer to the ‘problem’ of pregnancy.
“This is a hugely damaging and dangerous belief that, far from empowering women, forces many mothers to make the terrible decision to abort their children.”
Similar stories
Nursery worker who was unfairly dismissed because of pregnancy wins her case
Pregnant woman wins £14,000 for unfair dismissal after botched Maternity Leave
Professor sues college for job loss because she was a mother