Ex-Employee Sues Tiffany & Co

An ex-employee of Tiffany & Co, Kristin Rightnour, is reportedly suing the company following her dismissal over an alleged anti-Semitic comment she made to a Jewish co-worker in April 2014. The former director of marketing is said to be seeking "unspecified damages" from the luxury jewellery brand.

Rightnour's Jewish colleague asked her and another Catholic co-worker about Easter and the crucifixion, prior to the Easter 2014 holidays, The New York Daily News reports. Following the conversation, one of her colleagues complained to human resources, claiming that Rightnour had stated, "the Jewish people killed Jesus" during their discussion.

Rightnour "vigorously denied... having ever said anything of the sort while simultaneously maintaining, when asked, that she is in fact a devout Catholic, that her religion was known to her colleagues, and that what Ms Rightnour had explained is indeed a standard Catholic belief," according to her lawyers, Alexander Coleman, Mike Borrelli and Pooja Bhutani, of Borrelli and Associates P.L.L.C.

Rightnour filed a complaint with the United States Equal Opportunity Employment Commission. She was put on a one-year probation and eventually fired in August 2015. Tiffany & Co have not yet responded to our request for comment.