Marc Jacobs president Robert Duffy is being sued by a former employee for creating a “discriminatory environment”, where it was viewed as the norm to request private pole dances and to look openly at gay pornography.
Patrice Lataillade, who was sacked from his role as Marc Jacobs International’s chief operating officer last year, has filed court papers seeking damages for “discrimination, retaliation and his mental anguish and humiliation”, as reported by The Independent.
As reported by the newspaper, charges levelled at Duffy in the court papers include: “displaying gay pornography in the office and requiring employees to look at it” and of indulging in the “production and dissemination of a book which included photos of MJI staff in sexual positions or nude”, as well as asking an employee “to perform a pole dance for him”.
The paper continues: “Duffy has behaved as if he has no obligation to follow [company] rules of conduct or the law,” before adding: “He uses company funds for personal expenses and does not censor what he does.”
Mr. Lataillade was relieved of his duties at the company last September, a week after sending an email complaint “summarising the legal situation and the hostile environment”. But representatives of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey), which owns Marc Jacobs International, rejected assertions that he had been dismissed over the complaints, labelling the claims as “false”.
Mr. Lataillade had spent 14 years at LVMH, the last 10 of which were spent working specifically on the Marc Jacobs International brand.
“Patrice Lataillade was terminated as CFO and COO of [Marc Jacobs International] for serious matters unrelated to the allegations made in the complaint,” a spokeswoman, Molly Morse, told The Independent.
