By Kim Susan Se-jeong
A woman who claims she was fired for being too hot is suing the lingerie company where she used to work.
Lauren Odes, 29, accused Native Intimates of dismissing her based on her appearance at a press conference, May 21, according to the Daily Mail.
In April, Odes was hired as a temporary worker for data entry at the Manhattan-based lingerie firm, but did not last a week at her new job.
Her supervisors told her she needed to wear looser clothes that do not reveal her figure. On the day she wore a knee-length black dress to work, they gave her an oversized red bathrobe to wear over her clothes.
“She was told by supervisors, ‘You are just too hot for this office. Maybe you should wear your boyfriend's T-shirt and sweatpants,’” said Odes’s attorney Gloria Allred, according to the New York Post. “Her manager then apparently suggested: 'Lauren, try taping down your breasts to make them appear smaller.'”
Before the end of the first week, Odes was fired over the phone by her Orthodox Jewish employers, while shopping for a less revealing outfit.
“I understand there are Orthodox Jewish men who may have their views on how a woman should dress and how much she should be covered,” Odes told the Daily News. “But I am Jewish as well and don't feel any employer has the right to impose their religious beliefs on me.”
Odes has contacted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which investigates workplace discrimination based on race, religion, gender, age and disability.
According to the Daily News, Allred had previously worked with client Debrahlee Lorenzana, 35, who claimed she was fired for being too sexy for Citibank. Lorenzana, who told The Mail she regrets hiring Allred, lost the case without acknowledged settlement from Citibank.