“I only hire ‘old women”, the sentence arrives for the designer Elisabetta Franchi

The Labor Court of Busto Arsizio orders the Betty Blue company to pay compensation of 5,000 euros to the Association for the fight against discrimination and prescribes mandatory company courses on equality

Not only will she have to compensate the National Association for the fight against discrimination with 5,000 euros, but she will also have to demonstrate to the organization, which took her to court in Busto Arsizio, that she abandoned all ‘discriminatory practices’ in personnel selection, also organizing compulsory company training courses for all employees, under penalty of a 100 euro ‘fine’ for each day of delay. Two years after the ‘incriminated’ interview the redde rationem arrives for the Bolognese designer Elisabetta Franchi.

“ONLY WOMEN OVER 40 AT THE TOP”

It was May 2022 and during a talk organized by Il Foglio and PwC, Franchi had indulged in a series of considerations on the selection of female staff in her company which caused indignation and a communication earthquake. “When you put a woman in an important position, if it’s very important you can’t afford not to see her arrive for two years. I put women in because they’re ‘old’, if they had to get married they would already done, if they had to have children they have already had them, if they had to separate they have already done that too. So I take them as they have done all the turning points, they are there very calmly with me, at my side, and they work 24 hours a day“, said the designer, pulverizing decades of women’s struggles in just a few seconds.

“ABANDON PREJUDICES OF GENDER AND AGE”

After the social condemnation, immediate and without appeal, the one also arrives in court, signed by the labor judge Francesca La Russa which establishes the “discriminatory nature” of the words spoken by the company administrator Betty Blue, condemning her to pay compensation of 5,000 euros (in addition to 3,500 euros in legal costs) to the National Association for the Fight against Discrimination.
Not only that, Franchi will have to publish the judge’s ruling in one of the major newspapers at his own expense national. Finally, the judge orders the company to “promote, having consulted the appellant association, a conscious abandonment of prejudices based on gender, age, loads and family commitments in the personnel selection phases for the positions of top management, with the adoption, within six months, of a company training plan on discriminatory policies which includes mandatory annual courses for all employees.