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Yarmulke-Wearing Italian-American Sues Over Alleged Workplace Ridicule
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 9, 2011
Modified Aug 9, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 9, 2011
Modified Aug 9, 2011
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In a city as big as New York, discrimination suits are a dime a dozen. But every once in a while one pops up that causes a person to stop and go "huh." This is one of those cases. Meet Ciro Rosselli, a 29-year-old from Queens who is suing his former employer, McKinsey & Co., because his coworkers allegedly couldn't handle the fact that an Italian goy might wear a yarmulke.
The trouble started when Rosselli, who has been practicing Theosophy since 2007, wore a yarmulke into the office where he worked as an executive assistant. He says he was almost immediately bombarded with cruel comments from his coworkers. Things like one guy telling him he "wasn't a real Jew," another telling him "You can't be Jewish if you're Italian," and a supervisor telling him to "Take that [yarmulke] off! You're creeping me out!"
By the time his boss wrote him an e-mail with the subject line "Madge Rosselli" (as in Madonna, who practices Kabbalah) Rosselli says he had had enough, and complained to Human Resources. But that didn't have the desired effect. According to Rosselli, HR told him to wait it out. And so he did, with the patience of Jonah in the belly of the whale. But in April he says that his boss had an ex-boyfriend threaten him for complaining, and he went to the police. Two days later he was fired. And now he's suing.
McKinsey is declining to comment on the matter. Meanwhile, Rosselli is seeking unspecified monetary damages for discrimination and retaliation, claiming he was fired over his HR complaints.
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ciro rosselli
discrimination
lawsuit
mckinsey
theosophy
yarmulke
Garth Johnston
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