lonesome dov

Report: Charney Plans to Sue American Apparel

Photo: Keith Bedford/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Dov Charney is not going away quietly. The Los Angeles Times reports that an attorney for the ousted American Apparel CEO has threatened legal action unless Charney is reinstated at the company. His lawyer, Patricia Glaser, sent a letter to the board claiming that Charney’s firing was illegal, saying that he was given the option to either forcibly resign or be fired. “By presenting Mr. Charney with this absurd and unreasonable demand, the company acted in a manner that was not merely unconscionable but illegal,” Glaser wrote in the letter. “For one thing, the company denied Mr. Charney any meaningful opportunity to consider his options.”

“We’re very confident that we are on very firm legal ground,” company co-chairman Allan Mayer told the paper. “It’s what we would expect from Dov’s attorney in a situation like this, but we continue to believe firmly that we did the right thing, for the right reasons, in the right way.”

Meanwhile, BuzzFeed has obtained Charney’s purported letter of termination from the company. It includes accusations of sexual harassment and, ironically, states that he refused to attend the company’s required sexual-harassment seminars. The letter further states that Charney was aware of, and did not intervene in, an employee-run blog that was defamatory toward American Apparel, and which featured nude photos of an employee to boot. Says the letter, addressing Charney, ” You were in a position to prevent this conduct from occurring but, since it benefitted [sic] you personally, you allowed it to continue.”

While the sexual-harassment accusations may be the more salacious aspect of the firing, Charney’s main offenses were of a financial nature, according to the letter, which alleges that he paid off employees, misused company assets (such as paying for family members’ travel), and cost the company untold amounts in “litigation and defense costs, significant settlement payments, substantial severance packages that were granted to employees, and unwarranted business expenses.” The missive concludes, “The Board is continuing to investigate the scope and extent of your misconduct.” Hmm, why do we have a feeling they might uncover some more dirt on him?