Legal News

Law Student, Prosthetic Arm, Abercrombie & Fitch . . .

By Ashby Jones

We figured those three phrases alone would be enough to get you to to sit up and take notice. A law student with a prosthetic arm has won her suit for wrongful dismissal against U.S. clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch after she was ordered to work in the stockroom. Click here for the AP story.

The woman, Riam Dean (pictured), had alleged that she was removed from a London branch’s sales floor because the cardigan she wore to cover her missing left forearm violated Abercrombie’s strict dress code. The 22-year-old testified that her manager taunted her about her disability. Ohio-based Abercrombie denied this.

A London employment trial ordered Abercrombie to pay Dean about $15,000 in compensation for injured feelings, lost earnings and wrongful dismissal.

According to Dean, she was asked by a company employee if it would be possible “to keep you in the stockroom until the winter uniform arrives.” Dean then received letter saying she had been “erroneously placed on the shop floor.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 14, 2009 (boomark / email).