Woman says she was fired from bank for being 'too hot'

A curvy Queens woman says she was forced out of her job at Citibank because her male co-workers found her figure "too distracting." Debrahlee Lorenzana said she was dressing professionally, but her male bosses and co-workers still found her too hot be around their cold cash. Lorenzana went to work for Citibank as a business banking officer at their Chrysler Building branch in September of 2008.

"Shortly after the commencement of her employment, branch manager Craig Fisher and assistant branch manager Peter Claibourne began articulating inappropriate and sexist comments concerning plaintiff's clothing and appearance," her court filings say. "The improper comments made to plaintiff by Fisher and Claibourne included, but were not limited to, advising her that she must refrain from wearing certain items of clothing, in particular, turtleneck tops, pencil skirts, fitted business suits, or other properly tailored clothing.



"In a blatantly discriminatory fashion, the plaintiff was advised that as a result of the shape of her figure, such clothes were purportedly 'too distracting' for her male colleagues and supervisors to bear." Lorenzana "complained to management, pointing out that other female colleagues wore similar professional attire," and that some dressed far more provocatively, her court filing says.

Lorenzana's gender discrimination suit was dismissed last month because her deal with Citibank called for any disputes to be settled in private arbitration. She's pressing on with her case there. "Are you saying that just because I look this way genetically, that this should be a curse for me?" she said. In a statement, Citibank said, "We believe this lawsuit is without merit and we will defend against it vigorously."

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