Bay Area Versace store used code when blacks entered, former employee claims in lawsuit
A former employee at a Versace outlet store in the San Francisco Bay Area is suing the global retailer for discriminating against him and customers, according to a lawsuit filed in Alameda County court...23-year-old Christopher Sampino alleges that store employees used a code to notify each other when black customers walked into the Livermore store. He claims a manager told him to casually say “D410” when a black person entered the store...Sampino says he was fired in October for being biracial after working in the store for two weeks...Versace denied the allegations in a statement to the newspaper: “Versace believes strongly in equal opportunity, as an employer and a retailer. We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, national origin or any other characteristic protected by our civil rights laws...”