Employee says Gucci fired him three days after approved leave ended

From about 2022, after changes in store management, the complaint alleges he was subjected to “increasingly hostile, demeaning, and discriminatory treatment.” It alleges the operations manager “made and participated in discriminatory and demeaning comments” about his race, age, disability, appearance and competence, and told him, in substance, that he was “on the wrong side of 50.” 

The complaint also states, without identifying who spoke, that he was subjected to a comment that he looked like an “old, fat black rapper” and was called a “monkey.” He was referred to with language including “dumbass,” according to the filing, and subjected to bullying, excessive scrutiny and disparate criticism. 

He has dyslexia, which affects his writing, and management knew about it, the complaint says. It alleges Gucci criticized and disciplined him over written lists and recaps anyway. When he asked for extra training on the SAP inventory program on or about December 19, 2023, none was provided, the filing says. 

The complaint sets out repeated contact with human resources. He says he contacted HR on or about September 1, 2022, reported his concerns and said he feared retaliation, then followed up on September 7 and September 15. He met with management on or about October 10, 2022 about bullying and comments on his age. He complained again on or about May 10, 2023, then on May 23, June 28 and August 22 – complaints the filing describes as including “workplace harassment, bullying, ageism, and racism.” He contacted HR again in January 2024. 

Discipline moved in step with those complaints, the complaint alleges. A written performance counseling dated August 8, 2023 criticized his communication, time management and operational recaps. He disputed parts of it and declined to sign. A final written performance counseling notice followed on November 29, 2023, faulting his written checklist and recap work. The filing alleges the timing, escalation and substance of that discipline support an inference that Gucci applied “heightened scrutiny” and “created a paper record” after he complained.