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Former Marc Jacobs COO Patrice Lataillade has filed a sex discrimination suit against the company claiming that gay porn and nude photos of co-workers were on open display in the office, employees were forced to perform pole dances, and CEO Robert Duffy (in photo, left, with Jacobs) created a "hostile work environment," reports the NY Daily News.
"Duffy has behaved as if he has no obligation to follow [Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey's] rules of conduct or the law," the suit says. "He uses company funds for personal expenses and does not censor what he does."A rep for Marc Jacobs says: ""Patrice Lataillade was terminated as CFO and COO of [Marc Jacobs International] for serious matters unrelated to the allegations made in the complaint."When Lataillade complained last year, the suit says, he got axed in retaliation from the firm where he had worked since May 1996.
Other employees had complained, the suit says, including a female who was told she needed a "thicker skin" and a male who was instructed to "go home early and have a drink."
A lawyer for Lataillade did not return calls, but a Jacobs spokeswoman said the former executive's claims are "false."
· Ex-Marc Jacobs COO accuses company president Robert Duffy of fostering x-rated workplace [NYDN]