Harass Charge at 'PC' Cole

September 14th, 2004
By Suzanne Kapner
NY Post

Kenneth Cole has built a career on marrying his sense of fashion with a sensitivity to hot-button issues – often using politically correct slogans like “To be aware is more important than what you wear” to help sell clothes.

Now, in a twist, a former employee is accusing executives at Kenneth Cole Productions of sexual and racial discrimination.

In a prelude to a lawsuit, the former employee, Min Kou Chenette, 28, a native of Seoul, South Korea, who moved to the U.S. in 1995, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that claims she was fondled in the office by a female co-worker and referred to by another executive as her husband’s “Asian porn star.”

A call to the office of Peter Blum president of Kenneth Cole, was returned by a spokeswoman who said, “We do not comment on allegations of this nature.”

Retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Wal-Mart and Costco, are increasingly becoming the target of racial- or sexual- discrimination lawsuits as former employees lash out at what they say is unfair treatment.

Cole, by contrast, has taken great care to craft an image based on social responsibility, often taking aim against AIDS, homelessness and other societal ills.

“It’s not marketing,” Cole reportedly told a gathering at Harvard University last year. “It’s inherent in the company. It’s genuine.”

Chenette said she saw a darker side of Kenneth Cole, one in which lewd behavior was commonplace during the nearly two years she worked for the company: first, as an intern and then as the international licensing coordinator, a post she held until her resignation in August.

Staffers, according to the complaint, repeatedly referred to minority workers by their ethnicity.

One employee, who according to the complain was later let go, once told a co-worker “to bring her Puerto Rican ass over to her apartment with a handkerchief over her head and clean her place.”

“Kenneth Cole touts itself as a humanitarian, progressive company,” said Mark Schwartz, Chenette’s lawyer.  “It’s sure not evident from the way they treat their employees.”

Chenette said she was personally harassed. In on incident, a female co-worker approached her desk, petted her cheek and kissed her on the lips.

Another female colleague poked Chenette’s breasts with her finger and said, “Geez, they are sure big.  They are about to burst out.”

Chenette said she voiced her concerns to superiors, who either ignored them or retaliated against her, by passing her over for promotions and labeling her with an “attitude problem.”