Student succeeds in compensation claim against Abercrombie & Fitch
A disabled student is set to receive £9,000 in compensation from the US fashion chain Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) because of the discrimination she suffered due to her prosthetic arm. Riam Dean, 22, from Greenford in Middlesex, resigned from her job at the Central London store after her prosthesis was deemed unsavoury by its “visual team” and was asked to work in the stockroom instead of on the shop floor.
Miss Dean, who is currently studying law at university, was awarded the compensation when she took her case to a UK employment tribunal, who have sited wrongful dismissal by the company. She was born without a left forearm and told those in the court that “I never let my disability get in the way of living a fulfilled life. I do not want special treatment.”
The student has stated that she made the disability known to her employers after accepting the role and was told she would be able to wear a cardigan on the shop floor. However she was later informed that the cardigan breached the “looks policy” of the store and she was instead assigned to the stockroom until the store’s winter uniform arrived.
The company have released a statement saying that the tribunals findings were based “on the events of a single day” and that these “were not at all representative of Dean’s overall employment with A&F.”
In 2004, A&F spent nearly $50 million to settle claims for discrimination in the US.
Broken down, Miss Dean was awarded £7,800 compensation for injury to her feelings, £1,077 in lost earnings and £138 for wrongful dismissal.