P&G Faces Discrimination Suit

No sex for Saks workers? A beauty counter consultant at Saks Fifth Avenue, the New York department store, said she was fired from the Dolce and Gabbana counter for being pregnant. The New York City woman said she was fired because P&G, which licenses the brand, didn't want a pregnant woman selling its makeup products.


A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Tiffany Kantrowitz, who worked for two years as a beauty stylist and sales associate at P&G’s Dolce & Gabbana makeup counter at Saks in Manhattan.


Kantrowitz says she was fired by P&G in February 2015 after asking to be allowed to sit down while dealing with customers because she was pregnant, in violation of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act and a similar New York City law. Instead of accommodating Kantrowitz's request, the lawsuit said, P&G forced her to take breaks that were deducted from the leave time she was entitled to under the Family and Medical Leave Act. She says she planned to take leave only after her baby was born. 


“For (P&G), ever vigilant about the image of its makeup shop sales associates, pregnancy did not comport with the 'perfect look,'” the lawsuit said.


Before she became pregnant, the suit said, Kantrowitz told a supervisor she wanted children and he responded that “pregnancy is not part of the uniform.”


When Kantrowitz was fired, the company told her it was because she had taken “tester” items for personal use, according to the lawsuit. But P&G encouraged its cosmetics staff to do so, the suit says, and never warned Kantrowitz against it during her time with the company.