American Apparel's CEO, Dov Charney, is demanding the firing of employees he deems unattractive.

[Are_grits_groceries]

Here's the text of an email we received tonight from a pissed-off American Apparel store manager:

Our company holds weekly conference calls that every store manager world/nation wide are required to tune into. We discuss sales, which stores need displays, which items are doing well, etc.

Summer is supposed to be a great sales season for AA. Needless to say, with the state of the economy, sales haven't been going so well. Dov usually gets on the conference calls and talks to people, but one week, he went on a huge tirade and made stores that weren't doing well send in group photos. Why, you ask? He made store managers across the country take group photos of their employees so that he could personally judge people based on looks. He is tightening the AA 'aesthetic,' and anyone that he deems not good-looking enough to work there, is encouraged to be fired. This is blatant discrimination based on looks.

Dov personally judged each person in group photos that were sent in, and if you weren't to his liking, then boy... watch out. The comments that he made were raging from childish ones to insulting ones. Managers that don't comply with these new standards are afraid of losing their jobs. Employees who aren't up to Dov's "look" and whose work ethic is "just ok" are being targeted and scrutinized and the minute they make small mistakes, they are being fired. But it's only because Dov wants to weed out the "ugly people." It's ironic that he would rather have gorgeous slackers who don't move the product working there than normal looking people who are really aren't that bad looking, but are A+ sellers and great at customer service. The real irony here is that he is no , himself. He's asking for a class-action lawsuit and i hope that when it rains, it rains hard. Worst place to work, ever. This is happening at many stores across the country.

http://gawker.com/5323472/we-predict-more-lawsuits-in-dov-charneys-future

Yeeeeeesh!

[Donnachaidh]

1. yeah, Mr. Balding, Big-eared, Hairy asshole gets to decide WHO is good looking?

Bet he even has hair on his shoulders...

Wonder if HE fits the standard :gag: he sets for everyone else? Doubtful...

[charlie]

2. Here's the trollish looking idiot modelling briefs

Pic is probably NSFW, definitely NSF-breakfast, so click at your own peril:

?#

[Donnachaidh]

6. ewww -- he looks like the kind of creep that stalks women in cheesy nightclubs.

Ewwwww.... :puke:

[liberal N proud]

7. Borat is going to decide who is attractive?

:rofl:

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. ewwww.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Nasty!

:puke:

[rucky]

3. Between that and hiring illegals...

I've lost all respect I once had for that company.

[ErinBerin84]

4. lol

Half the people who I see working at American Apparel look like they are on crack (as in , they may be attractive with a good night's sleep or something, but they definitely look roughed up or like they are on a bender). And Dov Charney is a particular breed of hideous, both inside and out.

[eilen]

5. Sometimes the blatant assholism of people

takes my breath away.

[ejpoeta]

8. alright, i want to see a picture of this clown. i am going to bet he is not

attractive himself. but then, he probably thinks he's god's gift.... uggh.

[Blue_Tires]

10. that's been an unofficial industry MO since at least the 90s

[lunatica]

11. I worked at The Limited in the 80s and it was pervasive there

Not just 'the look' but every last thing in every store was dictated by the top brass, down to exactly how clothes were folded and laid out in the store and the pressure on the 'associates' to get people to buy whole outfits, including watches and belts and earrings was quite stressful. It was one of the worst jobs I ever had. Dehumanizing and relentless sledgehammer tactics pressure. I didn't last long but it was an experience I will never forget. The managers were the people who were rewarded because they jumped the highest and grovelled the lowest.

[Laelth]

13. Nothing illegal about that. Reprehensible, yes. Illegal, no.

Private employers are prohibited from discriminating on the basis or age, sex, religion, national origin, race, and color, but they are free to discriminate on any other basis. They are free to discriminate against GLBTs, and they are free to discriminate on the basis of an employee's "looks," however they care to define that.

That's the law in the U.S. Generally speaking, the law in this area stinks.

:dem:

-Laelth