Former employee, Christopher Sampino, is suing Versace for alleged racial discrimination. According to the lawsuit, the 23-year-old claims the managers of the San Francisco Versace store had encouraged sales staff to use discriminatory practices.
In the lawsuit Sampino states that the manager told him about a store code called “D410,” which is used to let co-workers know a black person was present in the store. The suit also mentions that “D410,” is the official code for all black shirts in Versace stores.
Sampino responded to his manager with “You know I’m African-American?” - a comment the Plaintiff believes lead to management treating him differently. According to Sampino he never received proper training or access to the online database.
Sampino insists that his job performance exceeded expectations, but he was terminated on October 1st, two weeks after he was hired. The lawsuit states:
Defendant(s) told Plaintiff he was not being terminated because of his “performance,” but because he “[doesn’t] understand luxury,” and because he “[doesn’t] know the luxury life.” Defendant(s) also told Plaintiff that he was being dismissed because he hasn’t “lived the luxury life.”
The lawsuit also states that the defendants asked Sampino to quit to lighten the paperwork. According to TMZ, Versace denied the allegations and has filed a request to dismiss the lawsuit.