British fashion designer John Galliano has launched a £12 million compensation claim against Christian Dior after being sacked for making anti-Semitic remarks.
The 52-year-old’s lawyers told a Paris employment tribunal that he should not have lost his job as the label’s creative director in March 2011. Galliano had been with Dior for 15 years when he was accused of drunken outbursts which included derogatory comments about Jews. His barrister, Chantal Giraud-van Gaver, told the Paris tribunal that he was dismissed “without a serious or real causeâ€.
She said that Galliano was addicted to alcohol, Valium and sleeping pills when he made the remarks and that it was illegal to sack an employee for health reasons under French law.
In September 2011 Galliano was fined £5,300 for his behaviour during two incidents, in February that year and in October 2010.
He had faced a maximum of six months in jail and a fine of £22,000 on the charge of anti-Semitic insults, but received a minimal sentence because of his health. The outburst brought Galliano’s career to a halt.
He apologised for his conduct, saying he could not remember the evenings in question, blaming a “triple addiction†to drink, sleeping pills and painkillers for his behaviour.
The designer said he had undergone two months of rehab in Arizona and Switzerland.
At the hearing in the conseil de prud’hommes, Dior’s lawyer Jean Neret said the designer’s contracts were too complicated for an employment tribunal. He added: “John Galliano was no ordinary employee. In fact, I would go as far as saying he wasn’t an employee at all. The complexity of his various contracts is sharply at odds with the image of a poor, defenceless employee which the opposing party is trying to project.â€
But the prud’hommes (wise men) ruled they were perfectly entitled to hear the case. Dior now has 15 days to contest the decision. Galliano was contracted to Dior with an annual salary of a million euros (£860,000), plus bonuses.