A lesbian saleswoman who favored chinos over skirts and dresses is suing her employer, Banana Republic, claiming that managers made crude jokes about her style and sexual orientation.
Giselle Burgos was hired as a $13-an-hour stock specialist at the midtown, Fifth Avenue branch of the national retail chain in 2003.
But when she tried to get better shifts on the floor she was told she had to stay out of sight of customers because she dressed like a man and only “women sell,” according to her Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
“On days [when Burgos] was able to work on the sales floor she was constantly subjected to negative and deriding remarks on the basis of her failure to look like the feminine image of a woman [that] Banana Republic was attempting to promote with its brand,” the 41-year-old says in her suit.
A manager, Teddy Torrenegra, also allegedly called Burgos “sir” and shouted in the presence of colleagues, “Maybe if she wore a skirt, I would f–k her!” according to court papers.
Torrenegra then tried to get Burgos to have a threesome with him and his girlfriend and made jokes about her “freaky lesbian friends,” the suit alleges.
In court papers, Burgos claims another manager, Nancy Wall, urged her to go for a free makeover at Sephora after sniping “a mean-spirited and condescending tone”— ‘Have you ever worn a dress before?’
The East Harlem resident’s hours were docked when she complained. She was ultimately fired in 2012.
She is suing for unspecified damages.
The general manager of the Fifth Avenue store referred calls to corporate communications. He declined to make Torrenegra or Wall available for comment.
A message to a spokesman was not immediately returned.