A female executive has claimed that she was sacked from her job because her breasts were too big.
Amy-Erin Blakely has launched a lawsuit against her former employers claiming sexual discrimination over the size of her chest.
The 43-year-old said she was told her ‘big breasts’ were too distracting for other employees.
She said that men working for a health care company in Orlando, Florida, openly talked about how big her breasts were and she was told to ‘hide them’.
Senior officials allegedly told her men could not concentrate in meetings because their gaze was drawn to her chest.
Blakely has denied dressing in a provocative way by showing off her ample cleavage and said she was sacked after complaining about sexual harassment.
She has hired celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred to fight her case for compensation.
Blakeley said, ‘I am a highly competent professional woman and I asked only to be judged on my merit.
‘Instead, I seemed to be judged on my looks and the size of my breasts.’
She said during her 13 years with The Devereux Foundation, a non-profit heath organisation that provides foster and adoptive assistance to families, she was promoted several times to become an Assistant Executive Director.
The sexual harassment began five years ago and Blakely said she was told she would not be promoted to a higher position because she was ‘too sensual’.
The case has similarities to that of New York city banker Deborah Lee Lorenzana who claimed she was sacked from her job with Citibank for being ‘too sexy’.
The 33-year-old customer service agent alleged she was fired for being a distraction to male employees who could not take their eyes of her silicon enhanced figure.
Blakeley said coming to work to face inappropriate comments about her breasts caused her stress.
She said, ‘It was really a nightmare, because every day I had great trepidation and fear that I was going to either be humiliated, harassed or lose my job because of the way I looked, not based on my performance at all. My performance was exemplary.’
by Susan Floyd
