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Religious woman: H&M fired me over 'cultural gap'
Worker claims she was dismissed by international fashion chain's Israel office after refusing to go out to non-kosher restaurant with team of foreign managers. H&M: We decided not to hire her due to incompatibility with the position
Tani Goldstein
A young woman has filed an NIS 408,000 (about $105,000) lawsuit with the Tel Aviv Labor Court against the H&M company, claiming she was fired for being religious.
The woman, L., says she is eligible for compensation due to the damage caused to her income and the distress and discrimination she suffered.
H&M, an international fashion chain based in Sweden, is about to open its first stores
in Israel
in spring 2010 and has been recruiting a managerial staff to set up the local branches.
"I was interviewed in February by the designated CEO and chairman of the local chain," L. says. "The designated human resources manager told me I had been accepted and that I would assume the position when the branches open this summer.
"In April, a team from the chain's management abroad visited Israel in order to examine the market here, and I was asked to accompany the guests throughout their visit. The visit lasted three days and was held in a very pleasant atmosphere.
"One evening we went to a restaurant, and when the CEO asked me in advance which restaurant I would recommend, I said I would prefer a kosher one. When I found out they were going to a non-kosher restaurant, I decided not to go. I could have drunk a glass of water there, but I didn’t want to embarrass the team.
"On another evening they went to a bar. There were four men and me, it was late and it's not my way of hanging out so I decided not to go with them."
"On Friday that week," L. continues, "I signed my work contract and later received an email inviting me to a meeting. Before the scheduled meeting, however, the designated chairman called me and said he was cancelling my nomination. I asked why and he began avoiding the matter, uttering something about a cultural gap.
"I have lived a few years of my life abroad and I am well familiar with the Western society, so I couldn’t understand what cultural gap he was talking about. But he avoided me and did not give me a clear response.
"I later sat with the woman at the manpower service which referred me to them in the first place, and she also said something about a cultural gap, explaining that I didn't attend that dinner. I took it very hard. I cried for days, and I still believe it was really wrong.
"I still haven’t managed to talk to the CEO and have received no explanation or clear answer about why they canceled my nomination. I believe this is discrimination, both because I am a woman and because I am religious."
Why did they take you in the first place if they don't want a religious woman, as you claim?
"They didn't know I was religious, and it's not something a person should declare from the start. I thought I was living in a democratic country."
Not all of the clothes sold by this chain are modest. Didn't you have a problem selling these clothes, managing professional campaigns with models presenting them and walking around stores where people are trying them on?
"No, I had no problem with this issue. I'm not that religious and it doesn’t bother me."
What about working on Shabbat? Is it possible that they don’t want you because the chain's stores are meant to be open on weekends and the managers must be available then?
"I don’t know."
What does the chain abroad think about this case?
"I have no idea, and it's an interesting question. I assume that if they know the reason they won't like it."
L. filed the lawsuit through Attorneys Shai Edri and Zvi Helfgott of the Helfgott-Edri law firm. "What we have here is a clear case of double discrimination," says Attorney Edri, "both because of her being a woman in a company with a majority of male managers and because of the religious issue.
"I'm not saying they should have taken guests from abroad to a kosher restaurant or give up on a night out at a bar, but the fact that she didn't accompany them shouldn't have bothered them. If her presence at these events was essential, they should have gone to a kosher restaurant and to a modest place of leisure."
The H&M chain said in response, "We were in touch with her and decided not to hire her due to her incompatibility with the position."
Initial information received via Red Email
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