A Japanese court dismissed a sexual harassment and unfair dismissal suit against fashion house Prada after management told a female worker to lose weight and keep in shape.
Rina Bovrisse, 38, who also claimed a Prada human resources manager had branded her “ugly,” said she would appeal the case and that the ruling by a female judge at Tokyo District Court was unacceptable.
Bovrisse was demanding that Prada pay her ￥58 million (US$728,000) for emotional distress.
“This decision by the judge allows sexually harassing comment to be made at the workplace, like ‘you must lose weight,’” she told local journalists on Friday, after the case had finished.
“In a word, my impression about the ruling is that this is preposterous,” she said.
Bovrisse, a Japanese national married to a Frenchman, alleged that Prada Japan had pressured a number of female employees into resigning by describing them as “aged, ugly, fat, bad body shape, bad teeth, disgusting and not cute.”
According to Bovrisse, the firm told her through a human resources manager to change her hairstyle, lose weight and ensure that she fits the “Prada look.”
Prada officials had admitted having asked her to lose weight and told her that as a senior retail manager overseeing 40 stores in Japan and two in Guam and Saipan, keeping in shape was essential, the Japan Times reported.
Presiding judge Ayako Morioka, however, dismissed the case saying that Bovrisse had failed to establish her claim that the fashion house had called her “ugly.”
Rather, the judge said, the firm had the right to dismiss her as she may have damaged the brand’s image by telling the media that the company had called her ugly.
Prada has a pending countersuit against Bovrisse, claiming defamation.
“There was no rationale to believe the core of the information [that she gave to the Japan Times in 2010] was true,” the judge said.
The court acknowledged that the human resources manager had told her the firm wished her to lose weight, but, while the comment was inconsiderate, it should not have caused distress so severe that warranted the seeking of compensation, the judge ruled.
The Japan Times, the nation’s main English-language newspaper, said yesterday it had published an article in March 2010 on Bovrisse’s claims.
After the ruling, Bovrisse told reporters that the judge in June had yelled at her and promised to rule against her, when she declined the court’s recommendation to settle the matter out of the court, the Japan Times said.
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
VENEZUELAN ACTION: Marco Rubio said that previous US interdiction efforts have not stemmed the flow of illicit drugs into the US and that ‘blowing them up’ would US President Donald Trump on Wednesday justified a lethal military strike that his administration said was carried out a day earlier against a Venezuelan gang as a necessary effort by the US to send a message to Latin American cartels. Asked why the military did not instead interdict the vessel and capture those on board, Trump said that the operation would cause drug smugglers to think twice about trying to move drugs into the US. “There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people and everybody fully understands that,” Trump said while hosting Polish President
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
A French couple kept Louise, a playful black panther, in an apartment in northern France, triggering panic when she was spotted roaming nearby rooftops. The pair were were handed suspended jail sentences on Thursday for illegally keeping a wild animal, despite protesting that they saw Louise as their baby. The ruling follows a September 2019 incident when the months-old feline was seen roaming a rooftop in Armentieres after slipping out of the couple’s window. Authorities captured the panther by sedating her with anesthetic darts after she entered a home. No injuries were reported during the animal’s time on the loose. The court in the
RSS