Breast Cancer Patient Allegedly Fired TWICE While Seeking…
Judy A. Smith: Ask Judy: 'I Didn't Go To School For This'
UPDATE: Debrahlee Lorenzana Says She'll Be Fired From Her New Job At Chase For Talking About Her Old Job
Most of us think that beautiful people are allowed to get away with whatever they want. Debrahlee Lorenzana is in the unfortunate position of losing something important because she was cursed with beauty. Lorenzana was recently fired from her job at Citibank because her looks and sex appeal were apparently too distracting to her co-workers. I am sure you may be thinking (neck swinging in process), "Who in the hell does she think she is?" It's hard to imagine someone would assume they were fired for being cute, rather than incompetent. And yet, if the statement from her filing below is true, it makes you wonder what her bosses at Citibank were thinking.
"Shortly after the commencement of her employment, branch manager Craig Fisher and assistant branch manager Peter Claibourne began articulating inappropriate and sexist comments concerning the plaintiff's clothing and appearance," her lawsuit states. She was also told that "she must refrain from wearing certain items of clothing, in particular, turtleneck tops, pencil skirts, fitted business suits, or other properly tailored clothing."
According to the New York Daily News, Debrahlee states: 'Never did I ever show cleavage. I like fashion, but I always dressed professionally.' Lorenzana fired back at her employers by stating that there were other employees who dressed in a more revealing fashion. She was then allegedly told that the other employees didn't have to worry about turning on the men in the office, since they were not as shapely and attractive as Lorenzana.
Given that women are going to make up the majority of our workforce in the year 2011, this case is a stark reminder that the way we deal with women's issues has to be updated for the 21st century. Things like maternity leave or being a single parent are enough to derail the hard work of many women in the workplace and is one of the sole reasons for the gap in pay between men and women.
All the while, Lorenzana's case does lead us to more deeply explore the issue of sexual harassment and how to navigate the complicated divide between professional behavior and human instincts. When men and women work together, there is going to be a natural attraction. In some cases, that attraction leads to action: asking someone out on a date, looking at them for more than three seconds, and all the other internal wires God planted in order to make sure we keep on reproducing. What's most frightening about this is that the wrong look or an ill-timed compliment can ruin a person's career and cost a company millions of dollars.
Perhaps in order to maintain stringent standards with regard to sexual harassment, there must also be equally stringent standards regarding how we dress in the office. If a woman wears clothing that conforms to her breasts, should men be penalized for looking? I am not sure what all the answers are, but the complex issue of sexual harassment is one of the key reasons that I have never gone on a date or attempted to spend any "personal quality time" with any woman I've ever worked with. Crossing that bridge between lust and professionalism can cost you everything.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book 'Black American Money.' To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here. 
Comments: (25)
Add a comment
By: oooozzzzz on 6/11/2010 9:59PM
Quote from article: "She was then allegedly told that the other employees didn't have to worry about turning on the men in the office, since they were not as shapely and attractive as Lorenzana".
--------------------------------------------------
Question, who are "they" that they are defending?
I smell a rat and I don't buy it.
IMO, the average male corporate executive who works in a corporate setting in "hire & fire" positions of authority, with set policy rules regarding corporate attaire, would never say anything like that to a female employee knowing that this violates company policy and human resoucres would have to intervene which put visibility on their supervisory/management actions.
Men will stare, will gawk, will droll, will fantasize all day and either sit & walk around hiding a hard-on, but actually call her into your office, sit her down and officially say something that dumb & stupid to her when she wasn't breaking any rules?
I don't care if she was purposely bending over (front & back) in a sexual manner just to get a buzz from the men, you can't go there and if she is doing her job in a professsional manner and not teasing & taunting, then you shoudn't. And if a male executive complains about it, I am talking to him in private about his lack of discipline & professionalism, not hers.
Why would that male manager risk his annual evaluations being tainted or his potential job loss for this? And this incident has gone national.
Something is really fishy here.
IMO, I think that all this fuss over Debrahlee Lorenzana's curves and clothing in a professional setting probably have more to do with the women who work alongside/with her than the men.
Women, not men, are the ones who tend to make looks, clothing and appearances more of a big deal than men.
If men see a beautiful woman, especially a woman of color endowed with a curvy body: a pretty face, large breasts, slim hips, a curvy behind and great legs that accent any and everything that she wears the second that she walks into a room, will get all the men's attention, their wagging tongues. compliments and constant stares but it's the women who will start trippin' & hatin' about her clothing & physical assets since she is getting all that attention and praise (without even trying) and they aren't because they are envious & jealous and wish that it was them gettin' all that attention from the men and not her.
And after a period of time with her constant presence in the workplace and professionalism, the majority of men will eventually get used to her and it won't even matter to them at some point but the women will continue to hate.
Women (correct me if I'm wrong) dress for other women or themselves, not for men (men don't really care) and women can be nasty.
And today's women, especially these White women in corporate america, who are all consicious & worried about their "Hollywood waif slim" beauty look, trying hard each and every day for the very same praise and attention seeking from men, and when a woman like this, who doesn't fit that "Hollywood skinny" mold, doesn't even worry about it but just showcases what she naturally has without even trying (she has what all White women want), women don't like it, start hatin' and get pissed off because she sucks all the air out of then room when they hope & wish that it was them doing it instead of her.
The physical assets that she naturally has (and the majority of women of color) are the very things that women (especilly White women with low self-esteem, lacks motivation, has confidence issues and little or no prospects) save up, pay thousands for, go under the knife and go in huge debt for: large breasts, a slim waistline, a large behind, great legs, no wrinkles, ideal body weight and being physically fit with little or no fat.
She naturally has all that, they don't and it's a struggle for them.
And I'll bet that this agenda against her being terminated from her job at Citi Bank for her "business-casual wardrobe of turtlenecks, wrap dresses and slacks were eventually ruled to be too distracting for her male higher-ups"....was probably some silly azz, 20+ & 30 something White female (who run in packs), inner office female political agenda who felt threatened and jealous by her on a daily basis (and she's not "one of the girl's") they got tired of her looks (she's wearing the same stuff as them) and all the male attention being directed at her and they set her up; went to her male authority higher-up, complained about this and used her job performance as an excuse, and that male had to make some sort of bullshyt excuse to get rid of her.
And the fact that he that he even approached her with this ish is suspect. That male executive probably had no choice because those very same hatin' White women have some dirt on him (he' probably married and sexing a subordinate(s) that would probably cost him his job, marriage or put his career in jeporady.
So if the lawsuit goes forward, her former male supervisor get severely reprimanded or fired and those cackling White bitches (who will never be known or implicated in this) keeps their jobs and will start trouble for someone else they target.
She didn't distract any males in that organization and cause performance and productivity to suffer, the other women just felt and knew that they could not compete against her physical attributes and wanted her gone.
I read in another article that she was even forbidden from wearing heels and if that's the case, the fact that she was even forbidden from doing that indicates to me that something was shady.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Abby on 6/14/2010 4:01PM
Are people really taking this seriously? Get another job....what a waste of time and resources. If you want to wear clothing that draws attention to your breats, work at a place that doesnt care. seems like an easy enough solution. Though i will probably get a million hate replys telling me why it isnt so simple.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Winston Lam on 6/16/2010 6:19PM
"Lorenzana was recently fired from her job at Citibank because her looks and sex appeal were apparently too distracting to her co-workers."
So what's solution? Fire all the attractive women from the office? We live in a world where beautiful women are found everywhere whether it's in the professional office, a nightclub, or on TV. If her male co-workers find her looks & sex appeal to distracting then maybe THEY should leave instead. Maybe THEY should go find themselves another job at a gay bar. They won't find any beautiful women there to distract them.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Winston Lam on 6/16/2010 6:23PM
"Lorenzana was recently fired from her job at Citibank because her looks and sex appeal were apparently too distracting to her co-workers."
So what's the solution? Fire all the attractive women from the office? We live in a world where beautiful women are found everywhere whether it's in the professional office, a nightclub, or on TV. If her male co-workers can't handle the temptations of working with a beautiful woman & find her looks & sex appeal too distracting then maybe THEY should leave instead. Maybe THEY should go find themselves another job at a gay bar. They won't find any beautiful women there to distract them.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Ross on 8/10/2010 6:10AM
Well I’m teaching a class of adult students and one of the female students who has a beautiful figure and very nice boobs comes into class wearing tight skimpy tops -very sexy looking. Does she not realize that it distracts me from my work. I don’t know why she dresses like that in my class. She seems like a nice girl. I want her to get her exams so she can get into university. I want to focus on her brains rather than her boobs but shes making it difficult for me to concentrate with those boobs in my face. I tried hard not to look at them - but I don’t want to ignore her either - shes a student in my class. What am I to do?
Ross
Reply to this Comment | Report This