Laura Odes, 29, says she was hired the very day she interviewed because she was so highly qualified. She could do data entry, and she has a bachelor's degree in business administration.
But within days, she was out the door - not for her performance, she says, but because of her curves.
"When my supervisor asked if I would tape down my breasts, I asked, 'Are you kidding me?'" she said.
Odes says it was no joke. She says she was appalled by what she says happened to her at the Manhattan office of Native Intimates, a lingerie wholesale business.
The allegations of gender and religious discrimination were spelled out in the complaint currently filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The shapely blonde was hired for an office job and maintains that her supervisors repeatedly complained about her phyiscal appearance and attire.
She wore a short sleeve purple dress on her second day of work and was allegedly told that the company owners - Orthodox Jewish men - felt the piece was drawing too much attention and should not be worn for her "own safety." Then she tried a boxy tunic, and then a knee-length black dress. But the outfits were still criticized, and her bosses suggested that she wear a long bathrobe over her clothes.
"I felt ridiculous and extremely embarrassed, others in the office were laughing and asking why I was wearing it and I told them what I was told," she said.
She says she tried another outfit that she thought would be appropriate, but was then fired. The irony, she says, is that the company markets very sexy clothes.
"I do not feel any employer has the right to impose their religious beliefs on me when I'm working in a business that is not a synagogue, but instead selling thongs with hearts placed in the female genital area, and boy shorts for women saying 'hot' in the buttocks area," she said.
Native Intimates has not commented on the lawsuit.
