Lawsuit Alleges Anti-Semitic, Anti-American Discrimination/Harassment by Revlon CEO Lorenzo Delpani

Here and below is the lawsuit, captioned Meyers v. Revlon, Inc. et al., 14-CV-10213, recently filed by Alan Meyers against Revlon, Inc. and Revlon Consumer Products Corp. Plaintiff alleges that defendant’s CEO/President Lorenzo Delpani subjected him to discrimination based on his race/ethnicity/religion (Jewish) and national origin.

From the complaint:

[R]eflecting his Anti-American and Anti-Semitic biases, Delpani treated Meyers differently than the other senior executives. At the time he was fired, Meyers was one of two members of the Revlon global leadership team born in the United States and the only team member of Jewish ancestry and faith. Since assuming the role of CEO and President, Delpani (who was born in Italy and is not Jewish) repeatedly made discriminatory comments about the United States and Americans as well as derogatory comments about Jewish executives. For example, on more than one occasion, Delpani compared the United States with ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), saying that the United States was only slightly better than ISIS and he often referred to Americans as “small-minded” and “dirty.” Delpani also told senior executives, in sum and substance, that he was surprised that there are so few Jewish senior executives at Revlon since “Jews stick together” and, “thankfully,” Ronald Perelman (“Perelman”), who is an Orthodox Jew and the controlling shareholder of Revlon, “is not like that anymore.”

[] Delpani’s hostility toward Meyers went on for almost a year, during which Delpani took pains to humiliate and intimidate Meyers. Delpani frequently yelled at Meyers in front of other senior executives and threatened to fire him, denied Meyers certain equity awarded to other senior executives, and, on one occasion, used him as a human easel to hold a poster board during a high-level meeting that lasted approximately 30 minutes. Several senior executives, including the General Counsel, witnessed much of Delpani’s conduct, including the discriminatory and retaliatory comments, but nothing was done to rein in Delpani. As a result of Delpani’s treatment, Meyers’s health suffered, including a three-day hospitalization due to chest pains. Left with no reasonable alternative, Meyers engaged an attorney to press his complaints of harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Approximately one week later, Revlon responded by firing Meyers.

Plaintiff asserts violations of 42 U.S.C. 1981, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York City Human Rights Law, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, and the New Jersey Conscientious Employee Protection Act.

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